


when you think you've seen it all

by hey_you_with_the_face



Series: you didn't see verse [5]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Nanny, Blow Jobs, Couch Sex, Dad Castiel, Engagement, Fluff and Smut, Fluffy Romantic Sex, Hand Jobs, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Riding, Tagging as I go, Teeny bit of angst, Wedding Planning, basically dad dean, munchkin claire
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-04
Updated: 2017-05-09
Packaged: 2018-08-28 22:51:39
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 23,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8466010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hey_you_with_the_face/pseuds/hey_you_with_the_face
Summary: Dean and Cas take the next step towards their fluffy ever after but there are a few things that need to be taken care of first...





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So I after that heart rending episode from last week (you all know which one I'm talking about), I'm finding it a bit difficult to work on Awkward to the Nth Degree since I was slap dab in the middle of a scene with Mary in it :p So until I get my groove back on that, I decided to work on a sequel to 'you didn't see anything'
> 
> Note: Detail oriented readers will probably notice that the Sam/Jess pairing has changed to Sam/Eileen. You see when I wrote the first story, I picked the usual Sam/Jess pairing without really thinking but then I found out about Sam/Eileen and I like that one sooo much more so I'm taking the liberty of doing a teeny bit of editing on the first story; it won't change any of the major details since I only mentioned Sam and Jess once and promptly forgot about them (oops).
> 
> Anywho, hope you guys like this next installment. :)

“I know we haven’t been together for a very long time..but I love you so, so much and I know that I don’t ever want to go back to a time when you weren’t in my life or in Claire's life...so that being said...Dean Winchester, will you marry me?”

 

Castiel looked up from his kneeling position on the living room floor, holding up the small velvet box, and swallowed down the nerves that were plaguing him. There was nothing to be worried about here, everything would be fine. His fingers tightened around the ring box as he waited for an answer to his question.

 

“Of course, I would love to marry you Cas so we can be together, have more babies and have lots of hot monkey sex but alas, I have fallen in love with Meg and it can never be,” came the answer in a tone that was filled with a dramatic mournfulness made for daytime soap operas.

 

Huffing in frustration, Castiel forced himself up off the ground, pointedly ignoring the slight ache in his left knee (he was _not_ old enough for joint problems) and sat on the couch. He turned to glare daggers at the brunette next to him.

 

“Dammit Meg!” he growled angrily, smacking his friend, who was giggling uncontrollably, firmly but not overly violently on the arm. “Can we get through at least one practice without Dean falling in love with you or passing out in an over-excited stupor or revealing his long denied dream of running away to become a go-go boy/cage dancer?”

 

They, or really Castiel, had been trying to work on his proposal to Dean for the past three hours. When Meg had come over for her usual weekend visit, the dark haired man had obviously not been hiding his secret well and in short order found himself spilling his guts to her in the sunny kitchen while Claire played outside on her swingset, showing his best friend the ring he’d bought.

 

Meg of course had been ecstatic for him; she had always been the one encouraging him to remarry after Amelia died in childbirth but Castiel had always brushed her off saying that he wasn’t ready for that and that why bother since he hadn’t found anyone to be with. Being the invasive caring type of friend that she was, Meg did of course try time and time again to set the single father up on date after date but finally relented when he practically begged her to leave him be, to let him handle his own romantic affairs.

 

This had all been before Dean of course.

 

Ignoring Meg’s continued laughter in favor of getting lost in his own thoughts, Castiel stared down at the ring that was nestled in the dark velvet box in his hands. He still wasn’t sure if he’d gotten the right one. 

 

What if Dean didn’t like it?

 

It was pretty plain but then he didn’t think Dean, who preferred ratty t-shirts and jeans and who was in general not very fussy, was the type of guy who wanted a very flashy ring. He’d found this at a small jewelry table in the mall; the vendor had handmade all the items she’d been selling and her work was impeccable, much better than anything he’d been seeing in the actual jewelry stores. When Castiel had given the silver haired woman a brief description of Dean and his personality, she’d brightened and said she had just the thing. It was a slightly thicker band in silver with an eye-catching Celtic inspired pattern. At the time he’d believed that there was no doubt that this was the one but now...

 

“Maybe I should try looking at another ring,” he said, mainly to himself, as he ran a finger over the polished silver metal. There was still time to return it; the ring was still within the thirty day return period. Maybe that nice lady would exchange this ring for something that would be better suited for his boyfriend. If he remembered correctly she had mentioned she would be at the mall for another three weeks so there was time to return--- 

 

Castiel was drawn out of his thoughts abruptly by a sharp slap up the back of the head.

 

He yelped, more in surprise than in pain, and turned to look at Meg who was staring at him with an elegant brow raised. “What the hell was that for Meg?”

 

“No, just no,” she said vehemently, reaching over and closing the lid on the ring box with a dull click despite Castiel’s noise of protest. “You are not going to go there Clarence. That ring is perfect; your lover boy is going to be over the moon when he finally looks at the thing, which probably won’t be for several hours after you propose because I can guarantee that two minutes after he says yes, you two are going to be going at it like rabbits.”

 

Castiel scowled at her though he could feel his cheeks flushing slightly, embarrassed that he and Dean were so predictable. Not that he could deny his friend’s statement, not after that time Meg walked on the two of them making out in the kitchen when they were supposed to be getting the sides for the Labor day picnic out of the fridge.

 

_“Really? You two can’t be trusted to go get potato salad alone?” she’d said in that non-plussed drawl of hers as she’d stared them down, an eyebrow raised and arms crossed. He and Dean had been frozen in horror at being caught; Castiel had been perched on the counter, legs spread wide to fit Dean between them while both their arms were wrapped tightly around each other. There had definitely been no explanation for their kiss swollen lips, flushed faces and mussed hair that didn’t come with a heap of embarrassment._

_Meg had walked past them towards the fridge, rolling her eyes, to grab the bowls of potato and macaroni salads he and Dean had been sent in to retrieve. “Animals,” she’d muttered to herself as she’d left the kitchen._

_Their return to the backyard had been an interesting experience to say the least._

 

“Dean and I express our emotions in other ways besides sex you know,” Castiel argued, trying not to let the remembered embarrassment from that memory get to him only to have Meg’s snort of disbelief cause him to blush yet again.

 

His friend was looking at him with an almost exact replica of that expression from Labor day, all the way down to the crossed arm; it was a bit spooky to be honest. “I’m well aware of how sappy you two can be Clarence,” she replied, reaching out to snag the ring box from his hands before Castiel could even process what was happening. He squawked indignantly but Meg continued speaking, “And because I know you two saps so well, I know for a fact that this ring is fine and old Deano is going to definitely going to say yes, probably before you can even get the damn words out so you can stop worrying, Captain Tightass.”

 

_Hmm...Captain Tightass_ , that is a new one, he thought to himself as he made a grab for the ring box. “Give me that back right now, assbutt,” he shot back without much heat. 

 

Okay maybe his name game needed a bit of work but Castiel was preoccupied with his attempts to pry the ring box out of Meg’s iron grip. Gathering his energy, he launched himself forward, hoping to take his friend off guard but of course the she-devil was expecting that.

 

All this led to a very childish wrestling match, complete with name calling, on the sofa followed shortly by a location change to the floor which resulted in the pillows being tossed to the floor, the TV remote being flung to a far corner of the living room and Castiel being pressed face down into the carpet with a bony knee in his back. His attempts to cry ‘uncle’ were muffled by the ground, not that his friend would have heeded them anyway.

 

“Now,” Meg said, her voice a bit breathless from the struggle. She held the ring box out in front of him so that he could see it. He attempted to free an arm and snatch the precious item but was unsuccessful. How could such a small woman be vicious and crafty? The answer of course was that she did indeed possess demonic powers. “Since I know that you plan on proposing next Saturday when little Miss Claire comes to sleepover at Auntie Meg’s, I’m going to save you from yourself once again and keep this in my possession.”

 

After one last thrashing attempt for freedom that only succeeded in him whacking his head of the apparently very solid leg of the coffee table to his left, Castiel went limp. It was time to concede defeat and part of him could admit, very grudgingly of course, that the little monster on his back was really trying to do what what best for him. 

 

“Alright, alright,” he huffed in annoyance, turning his head awkwardly in an attempt to look up at Meg. “You’re right as always.” Hopefully this flattery would distract the brunette long enough for him to negotiate his escape. “Now please let me up, I need to check on Claire.”

 

There was a bit of pensive humming and Castiel felt manicured nails tapping thoughtfully on his shoulder blade. “Hmm...I suppose but only for the child,” she finally agreed, shifting off of his back to stand but not before scrubbing roughly at his hair to mess it up and cackling at his indignant protest. “I’m keeping the ring though.”

 

“You go on a shopping spree again Meg?”

 

To say that Castiel rose quickly to his feet at the unexpected sound of his boyfriend’s voice did not do the movement justice; it was as if he were catapulted up from the carpet, his heart pounding and causing a short lived twinge in his knee, only to see that Dean was indeed standing in the doorway that led to the backyard. He was looking at him and Meg, an amused smirk on his face. Claire darted through the open door shortly after and threw herself at his boyfriend, clinging to his leg and giggling, causing the other man to look down and smile softly. The sight had Castiel’s panic taking a backseat to warm fuzzy feelings for a second, something that seemed to happen anytime he witnessed Claire being affectionate with Dean, before being brought back to reality.

 

How long had his boyfriend been standing there?  
How much had Dean heard?  
Had he been standing there when Meg mentioned when Castiel was planning to propose? That had to be it. Oh god, Dean knew; there was no way the other man hadn’t head. Meg’s voice wasn’t exactly quiet...

 

Castiel was saved from his tumultuous thoughts by Meg speaking.

 

“I may have purchased an item of jewelry that may or not be obscenely expensive,” his friend lied easily. Nothing in her tone gave any indication that she was currently lying out her ass and from his frozen position, he saw Meg deftly slip the velvet box into her pocket. “Cas was being a boring sensible person and trying to get me to return it.” She then quickly but skillfully maneuvered the conversation to what Claire had been doing outside.

 

_Thank God for crafty best friends,_ Castiel though begrudgingly to himself. He wasn’t exactly thrilled that Meg had gotten her own way; there was obviously no way to get Dean’s ring back from her, not with Dean in the room, but at least his boyfriend seemed to accept the explanation.

 

It also helped that Claire was distracting the other man with her antics. His daughter was attempting to use Dean as a jungle gym, hanging off his various limbs while Meg and him conversed. The other man even crouched down at one point to allow her to scramble on to his back with a squeal of excitement. Castiel walked over to join in on the conversation, hoping that he sounded as if nothing were a miss.

 

Not long after the heart attack inducing close call involving the ring, Meg announced she had to be leaving, mentioning that she had an article to write. She stood up from the couch; they had all settled in the living room, Castiel and Dean together on the sofa with Meg in the chair, so the adults could talk while Claire had set up shop in the corner containing her toy box so could promptly relocate all the contents of said toy box to the floor.

 

“See ya Dean, bye bye little miss,” Meg said as she navigated her way through the sea of toys so she could crouch down and give Claire a big hug and a sloppy kiss on the cheek. Claire giggled loudly and squirmed in her arms. The brunette stood up and walked over to grab her purse and doing so caught Castiel’s eye. “You be a good boy now Clarence,” she said, looking at him with an expression that very distinctly said ‘Don’t spend all week freaking out, moron.’

 

Resisting the urge to argue since Dean was in the room, he parroted back the farewell along with Dean though he may have tried to mentally smite her despite the smile on his face. Meg grinned devilishly before waving and showing herself out. 

 

Dean sighed and patted him on the thigh. “Want to help me get supper around?”

 

Nodding, Castiel stood up to follow the other man into the kitchen; Dean began rifling through the fridge, pulling out ingredients for a casserole and asking him to get the big pan from the cabinet. While he was reaching up to grab the glass pan, Castiel decided to enact the first part of his proposal plan before he chickened out.

 

“Meg mentioned that she would like to have Claire over next Saturday night,” he said casually, at least he hoped he sounded that way. He placed the casserole pan on the counter where Dean was working before leaning a hip against his workspace. “Something about taking her to a spa day on Sunday. I thought, since we’d have the house to ourselves, maybe we could have a nice night in.”

 

At first the other man was silent as he flitted over to the stove to fiddle with the oven and Castiel immediately jumped to the conclusion that Dean already had plans for next Saturday either for himself or the both of them; he started reaching for his mental folder of backup plans when he felt his boyfriend come up behind him. Castiel relaxed unconsciously back into the firm warmth of Dean’s chest as the other man rested his hands on his hips, fingers gripping firmly

 

“Mmm, that sounds like a fantastic idea,” Dean hummed in his ear. Castiel shivered slightly in response to the other man nuzzling at the sensitive skin behind his ear and the side of his neck. Lips brushed his the shell of his ear as Dean continued, “You, me, a nice dinner and a date with the couch followed by our bed; that’s pretty much the best night ever in my book. We haven’t had a night alone for awhile.”

 

Dean’s hands began to just barely wander under the hem of his t-shirt and Castiel was slowly forgetting the reason he started this whole conversation. The Meg-voice in his head snapped at him to focus. 

 

He reluctantly turned so he was facing Dean. “That’s true, between work and Claire, we haven’t really had some time for ourselves so I thought it would be nice to have some alone time.”

 

His boyfriend smiled contentedly and leaned down to kiss him lightly before pulling away to get back to supper. “Sounds like a date to me, Cas. Though I think I could be persuaded to give you a preview of coming attractions tonight,” he said, shooting a flirty wink over his shoulder.

 

Castiel laughed at the other man, Dean was still such a flirt despite the fact they’ve been together for about a year; it was just one of the many reason he was going to propose.

 

“It’s a date,” Castiel replied, feeling a fresh wave of determination to make this wonderful man his husband washing over him and wiping out most of his nerves.

 

Hopefully it would be a date that neither of them would never forget.


	2. Chapter 2

The first thing Dean noticed when he finally made it home Saturday afternoon was the mouthwatering smell permeating the house. He smiled and breathed deep, enjoying the myriad of scents, as he unlaced his boots while being very careful not to get grease anywhere.

 

He’d spent most of the day under the hood of Charlie’s little yellow VW Bug and it showed in the dirt and grime that was now streaked up and down his arms and dotted his face. The redhead had not so subtly mentioned the other day that her car was making a clanking noise and that it was slowly driving her crazy while they were both working at the agency reception desk; Dean was now in charge of interviewing new hires since he’d requested that he have more predictable and regular hours. He wanted to be home to take care of Claire after school. 

 

One look at the overly innocent expression on his friend’s face had had Dean rolling his eyes and offering to take a look; so earlier that morning, after kissing a pair of sleepy pair of Novaks goodbye, Dean had made the trip over to Charlie’s apartment. It turned out that the problem was a relatively easy fix, though the trip to the auto parts store was a bit of a time suck, and as much as he loved hanging out with Charlie as she kept up an amusing commentary on his progress, Dean was happy to be home.

 

Padding down the hall in his socked feet, Dean followed his nose towards the kitchen where he heard the familiar sounds of Cas cooking dinner. There was no sign of Claire in the living room but he thought he heard the thud of little feet coming from upstairs; she was probably getting ready for her night with Meg. Claire always insisted that she was old enough to pack her own bag for her sleepovers, an arrangement that led to some very interesting outfits the next day. Dean walked into the kitchen and saw Cas standing at the stove.

 

“Smells great, babe,” he murmured in his boyfriend’s ear after sneaking up behind him. Cas jumped in surprise and turned, smacking him on the shoulder.

 

“Don’t sneak up on me like that!” the dark haired man grumbled. Dean’s response was to chuckle at the other man’s slightly grumpy expression which resulted in another light smack on the shoulder though this one was accompanied by a reluctant smile. “I could’ve been holding a pan of hot water and splashed it on you or something and then where would you be?”

 

Dean grabbed him by the waist and pulled him in to kiss his cheek, making sure to make as much noise as possible as he did. “I guess then I would be scarred for life,” he answered, a dramatic woe in his tone, “Forced to wear a mask to hide my hideous face and working tirelessly to win back the affections of the man I love who can’t bear to look at me now that I’ve been mangled by a tragic kitchen accident.” 

 

He even threw the back of a hand up to his forehead and closed his eyes dramatically for effect but when he cracked his eyes, he saw that Cas was not impressed.

 

“You forgot the bit about hiding underground and playing a pipe organ,” Cas said drily, crossing his arms over his chest. “But a stunning performance nonetheless.”

 

“I’ll play an organ for you,” Dean shot back with a salacious grin. The other man rolled his eyes and looked at the ceiling but Dean felt no shame because honestly, Cas had set himself up for that one. Dean Winchester did not let chances for innuendo pass him by. He tried to snag another kiss but before he could get within smooching distance, a strong hand braced itself against his chest and kept him at a distance.

 

Cas shook his head and pointed towards the doorway leading out of the kitchen. “Oh no, mister mechanic,” the other man chided. He looked pointedly down at Dean’s filthy clothes and dirty hands, “You’re practically coated in grease, you need a shower pronto, and I need to get dinner ready.”

 

No amount of pouting would move the other man so Dean slowly made his way upstairs to shower and change into clean clothes. Once he was under hot spray from the shower, scrubbing away accumulated grime of the day, Dean did have to admit that he’d gotten more than a bit dirty and that he felt much better now that he was rid of it. He stepped out of the shower, towel wrapped around his hips, and padded into his and Cas’ bedroom.

 

Picking out clothes turned out to be a bit of a challenge. 

 

Part of his mind was trying to justify wearing his sweatpants and a t-shirt but another was pushing for something a bit nicer. Ever since Cas had suggested they have a night in while Claire was away, he’d had the distinct impression his boyfriend was trying to make tonight a special one. At first Dean had been worried; had he missed an anniversary or something? But after searching his memories and the calendar ceaselessly for hours, he’d come up with nothing but the conclusion that Cas just wanted to have a slightly nicer than normal date night. 

 

This wasn’t too out of the ordinary Dean supposed. The last time they had been on a proper date was when Jody’s niece came for another visit about four months ago and the girls had had a sleepover at the neighbor’s house. The other man probably just wanted to make sure they got the most out of the night before they fell into their usual habit of screwing each other senseless in what remained of their precious alone time.

 

All this being taken in account, Dean decided to split the difference and go with a pair of his nicest jeans and clean, long sleeved henley. It was much better than wearing his ratty pajama clothes but not so nice as what he would wear out to a fancy restaurant.

 

And if he happened to splash on a bit of cologne that experience told him drove Cas crazy? Well...it was date night after all.

 

Dean made his way downstairs just in time to hear Meg letting herself in, apparently it was already time for Claire to get picked up. He turned on his heel and shouted back up the stairs to Claire that Aunt Meg was here and it was time to come downstairs. There was an excited shriek and the stamping of small feet that heralded Claire’s approach.

 

“Claire, careful on the stairs,” Dean warned, eyeing the landing with concern, “We’ve talked about this.”

 

A head of blonde hair peeked around the corner shortly followed by a pair of blue eyes and a wide grin and Dean couldn’t help but smile as the little girl walked carefully down the stairs, mindful of Dean watching her. Her overnight bag trailed behind her and she had her bumblebee blanket around her shoulders. The typical Claire sleepover kit.

 

“Ready!” the little girl announced happily once she’d made it down to the living room where Meg and Dean waited for her. “Let’s go Auntie Meg.”

 

This being said, Claire turned and started to scamper towards the door but found herself being held in place by Meg’s foot on her blanket.

 

“Ah, ah, ah, slow your roll there, missy,” Meg chided lightly, reaching down to ruffle Claire’s hair affectionately, “Your backpack looks like it’s about to bust open. How about you let Dean fix that while I talk with your Daddy before we leave, okay?”

 

Dean suppressed the urge to laugh at the serious thoughtful expression that stole across the little girl’s face; it made her look so much like her father, Cas got that look when he was trying to make a difficult decision. Eventually she nodded and extracted herself from the straps of her little backpack so she could hand it to Dean. He knelt down and began pulling the various items that Claire had attempted to fit haphazardly into her overnight bag.

 

He was vaguely aware that Cas was in the room now and talking quietly to Meg but he ignored that as he tried to explain to Claire why folding clothes made it easier to pack them; not that he really expected her to absorb or care about this information, she was only five after all. And sure enough, after several minutes of packing organization, Claire was standing up and wandering over to Meg.

 

“Auntie Meg,” she said, tugging on the woman’s sleeve, “Can I have some gum?”

 

Meg was still talking to Cas but she paused long enough to look down. “Sure kiddo, it’s in my purse. Go ahead and grab a piece.”

 

Dean finished up with Claire’s bag and stood up. He looked around and saw Claire digging around in Meg’s purse and was just about to help her find the treat she was looking for when the little girl drew out a foil wrapped piece of gum out of the depths with a cry of excitement. He smiled and shook his head as he watched her begin chewing enthusiastically.

 

“Well then,” Meg said, loud enough to get Dean’s attention. Looking over he saw the brunette standing next to Cas who was looking oddly tense; Dean made a mental note to investigate further. She clapped her hands and look down at her small charge. “Looks like it’s time for us to go, kiddo. Let’s hit the road.” 

 

Claire jumped up off the floor and ran over to hug Dean around the shins. “Bye bye Dean,” she said sweetly into his knees. Before he had a chance to even pat her on the head, the little ball of energy grabbed her bag and blanket so she could bound over to wrap her arms around Cas’ legs. “Bye bye Daddy.”

 

“Bye bye Claire,” Cas answered softly, looking more relaxed; maybe the tension from earlier was due to Claire going away, his boyfriend still had a bit of an issue when it came to his daughter being away. The other man knelt down and hugged his daughter which brought a familiar warmth to Dean’s chest. “You behave for Auntie Meg. Dean and I will come and pick you up tomorrow, okay?”

 

Once the goodbyes were done, Meg quickly ushered Claire out the door but not before leveling a knowing look at the pair of them and telling them to ‘have a fun time.’ Dean only rolled his eyes, used to the brunette’s teasing at this point, while Cas blushed slightly at the blatant innuendo in her voice and soon it was just the two of them. Dean looked over to see Cas staring at him, one hand in his pocket while the other rubbed at the back of his neck as if it were bothering him.

 

“Give me a few minutes to get dinner set up in the kitchen,” Cas said as he walked walked away hurriedly, probably worrying about what food he had on the stove. When Dean asked if he wanted help setting the table the other man spun around, waving his arms, “Oh, no; I’ll take care of everything. Why don’t you just watch a bit of TV? I’ll let you know when dinner’s ready.”

 

And with that slightly odd over dismissal of Dean’s offer of assistance and a strangely worried face, Cas disappeared into the kitchen, leaving Dean to wonder just what had gotten into his boyfriend.

 

It was a confirmed fact; something was definitely bothering Cas.

 

Dinner had gone as usual, well as usual when it was just the two of them without the company of a child who required a bit of encouragement to eat her supper some nights, with the two of them eating and talking about random topics that ranged from work and Claire’s school to what they were going to for Thanksgiving this year but Dean had felt a constant tension coming off the man seated across from him. To the casual observer, Cas was completely at ease, if a bit distracted, but Dean knew the signs. The fact that there was a slight squint in the corners of his boyfriend’s eyes and the fact he was gripping his silverware just tight enough for him to have white knuckles, these were classic examples of distress in the dark haired man and quite frankly it was starting to freak Dean out a bit.

 

“Are things at work really okay, Cas?” he asked again when no topic seemed to help ease the tension. They were, or really Dean was, eating a piece of homemade blueberry pie for dessert while they sat in the dim living room. Cas had insisted on leaving the TV off and turning on the stereo to some soft rock music; that plus the addition of several lit candles gave the room a romantic atmosphere that wasn’t really jiving with the stiff demeanor of his dining companion. In hopes of getting him to relax, Dean put down his plate and reached a hand out to rub at one of Cas’ remarkably rigid shoulders. “You seem awfully wound up, babe. You sure nothing's the matter? You can always talk to me if there is.”

 

To his slight dismay, Cas jerked when he touched him and the other man actually twitched so that they were facing each other and no longer touching. His boyfriend looked like he might actually be sweating; what in the hell would have him so worked up?

 

Cas appeared to try to swallow but it looked like his mouth was too dry to before he shifted forward again and reached out to grab one of Dean’s hands. The other man’s hands were cold and, as suspected, slightly damp.

 

“No, no, everything's fine,” the other man assured quickly but not quite convincingly. He tilted his head and looked down at the floor, swallowing nervously yet again. Yes, there was absolutely something going on here and Dean was starting to be afraid to find out. Shifting uneasily in his seat, he waited for his boyfriend to continue. “Well, actually there is something I want to ask you…”

 

Dean’s heart fell into his stomach before doing an about face so that it could begin to race as the pieces of the puzzle he wasn’t even aware he was constructing all night slammed into place with a bang.

 

Holy shit...was this it...was Cas really going to pro---

 

But before his brain would finish that truly crazy thought, there was an alarming racket from the front of the house as the sound of the front door bursting open echoed down the hall and then suddenly Meg and Claire burst into the room.

 

 

\---Twenty Minutes Earlier---

 

“Claire, what are you playing with over there?” Meg asked absentmindedly from the couch. She knew that her honorary niece was playing with the dress up things she kept in her apartment for the little munchkin but experience in babysitting had taught her that extended silences were dangerous. 

 

When there was no response except for a badly stifled giggle, Meg got off of the couch to investigate. She rounded the sofa to find Claire’s back facing her as the little girl looked down at something in her hands.

 

That wasn’t suspicious at all.

 

“What do you have there kiddo?” Meg asked casually, thinking that Claire had gotten into her bag and raided her makeup stash again. She was walking over to get a better look when her charge turned around and brandished her hand, grinning happily. What Meg saw there coupled with Claire’s response had the bottom of her stomach dropping out in shock.

 

“Do you want to place dress up too Auntie Meg? I’ll let you wear my new princess ring I found in your purse!”

 

Oh fuck.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this chapter is a bit shorter than normal but I have a feeling you all will like it...

The next few moments were absolutely bonkers.

Dean watched in confusion as his boyfriend’s daughter and best friend burst into the room looking like they had forgone driving, instead choosing to run their way back to the house. Claire was dressed haphazardly in the clothes she’d left in underneath a light yellow dress up gown underneath her jacket which had obviously been thrown on hastily; Meg didn’t look any more put together in what had to be her pajamas, a pair of shoes that were actually slippers and a sweatshirt, all of which was set off by the somewhat deranged look in her eyes. At first Dean felt panic bloom in his chest since what horrible thing must have happened to have the usually unflappable Meg looking like this but before this fear could get settled, the disheveled woman spoke.

“Hey Clarence,” she said, her breath huffing slightly as if she’d run a mile despite her blatant attempts to sound casual. “Could I talk to you for a minute in the kitchen please? Claire has something she wants to give you; a craft we made tonight.”

Cas looked at his friend like she’d started sprouting horns. He looked at Dean, his mouth opening and closing slightly in his confusion before turning back to his friend. “While I’m sure whatever Claire has made for me is beautiful but can it wait a few minutes?” his boyfriend said slowly, his tone was trying to convey something but Dean had no idea what. Cas glanced back at him again, almost nervously. “I’m sort of in the middle of something Meg.”

“Of course and Miss Claire and I will be out of your hair in just a hot second but you really need to come talk to me in the kitchen,” Meg continued to insist, her eyes wide as if she were trying to mentally project an unspoken message into Cas’ brain. “It’s extremely important that you see the jewelry that Claire has made for you.”

Whatever strange meaning this phrase had an immediate effect on Cas since it caused the other man to stiffen abruptly, a hand reaching down to touch his pocket. Dean watched, still unable to find his voice due to shock, as his boyfriend produced a small velvet box.

A ring box.

Dean’s heart began to race as his suspicions about tonight’s date were confirmed and he tried to open his mouth to ask if this really was it but the other man didn’t even spare a glance his way as he fumbled with the box and trying to pry it open; Dean suspected Cas had momentarily forgotten he was sitting right there. It took a few seconds but once he had the lid popped open, whatever Cas saw there caused the other man to pale almost instantly; his widened eyes shot up to meet Dean’s and he visibly swallowed. 

“Oh, yes well...I really should take a look at this,” Cas started to babble. He attempted to slip the ring box surreptitiously into his pants pocket while he stood up and backed away towards the kitchen but it wasn’t cooperating. “I’m sure you understand that...a father really should encourage...this will only take a moment…”

Words seemed to flow unchecked from the other man’s mouth in his obvious panic as he stumbled backwards, almost hitting the coffee table and upsetting their wine glasses. Meg started to usher Claire and Cas towards the kitchen when Dean finally recovered his voice.

“Everybody freeze,” he barked. He got up from the couch and walked over to face the trio, none of whom would meet his eyes; hell, they were all looking at their shoes like kids who knew they were about to get in trouble with their parents.

This was just getting weirder and weirder by the minute.

Despite his confusion as to what was going on and his annoyance that Cas thought he wouldn’t be able to tell something was up, Dean tried to keep his voice level. “Now, I’m sure this may be shocking to you,” he said calmly, crossing his arms, “But you three aren’t as sneaky as you think you are. Now, what in the heck is going on? Why are you and Claire bursting in here, Meg? And what does any of this have to do with jewelry?”

Dean had a strong feeling that he knew a part of what was going on and he figured there was an interesting story coming his way but he obviously needed confirmation from one of his three suspects. None of the guilty party spoke for a minute.

Deciding on a new tactic, one that would hopefully turn out to be more productive, Dean told Meg and Claire to watch TV for a minute while he and Cas talked. The brunette attempted to argue but one look from Dean had her grudgingly complying. The girls wandered over to sit on the couch while they went into the kitchen. Maybe separating the conspirators would work better for him.

  


Once they were in the kitchen, Cas began to babble again about how everything was fine and he just needed to talk to Meg again before they got back to their night in; Dean cut him off by placing a finger to his lips.

“Cas, you need to calm down,” he said quietly. He gently massaged the other man’s shoulders which were practically cemented into place with anxiety, a few seconds of this had Cas slumping slightly as he relaxed. “Now, does all this craziness have anything to do with the fact you’re trying to propose?”

Surprisingly enough, revealing the fact that he was onto his boyfriend’s plan didn’t cause the other man to stiffen up again. In fact, Cas seemed to become even more pliable and relaxed under his hands, almost as if he were relieved to have everything out in the open, and knowing his boyfriend as well as he did, this was most likely true. Cas was notorious for tying himself into knots about things.

“You know,” Cas said simply, he leaned his head forward to rest on Dean’s shoulder for a few seconds before looking up. “How long have you known?”

“Not long,” Dean replied with a smile, “I had a feeling you were planning something for tonight considering how fussy you were getting about it but I didn’t really know what it was until you said you wanted to ask me something and it sort of clicked.” He chuckled and patted the other man on the side. “Though that glimpse of the ring box just now really drove it home.”

This pulled a little laugh out of Cas and he sighed, shook his head. “I can’t tell if you’re just really observant or if I’m a horrible liar,” his boyfriend said, running a hand through his hair absentmindedly. “Probably a mix of both most likely though that’s one of the reasons for tonight,” he continued, reaching a hand out to cup Dean’s cheek and leveling those earnest blue eyes at him. “The fact that you can read me like a book is one of the many reasons I want to ask you to be my husband.”

Dean’s heartbeat hiccupped for a minute before starting to race.  
Cas had actually admitted it; he wanted to marry him.

“So then,” he said, attempting to sound calm and laidback though in reality he was just about ready to vibrate out of his own skin with newly revived nerves. He placed his hands gently on his boyfriend’s hips before continuing, “Does this mean you’re actually asking?”

There was a moment of silence, the air around them charged with their combined nervous energy.

Cas swallowed audibly and took a deep breath. Even though Dean was almost a hundred percent sure he knew how he next few moments would play out, his palms began to sweat.

“Even though it seems we can never do anything in the traditional manner,” he said with a slight smile, causing Dean to grin. It wasn’t like that was an inaccurate statement, falling for the man you’re nannying for and then basically falling into raising a child before even moving in together isn’t something that is that common after all. “So it would figure that my attempts at proposing would go sideways but I’ll be damned if I can’t at least manage to get the words out…”

Here he paused long enough to take a steadying breath before meeting Dean’s eyes; his gaze was burning with a determination Dean had never seen before and it caused his heart to beat wildly in his chest. This was it.

“Dean Winchester, will you marry me?”

Despite the fact that Dean felt like time had frozen slightly for a moment, he wasted no time with his answer.

“Yes,” he said, grinning like a crazy person. He felt like he was about to explode with happy energy and the only way to keep from falling apart was to draw Cas in and kiss him hard, hard enough that they were both panting when they broke apart. “Yes, Castiel; of course I want to marry you.”

Dean was able to get a brief glimpse of Cas’ face breaking into a enormous grin before he was being yanked forward into his fiance’s arm and being kissed within an inch of his life. The kisses were a bit awkward, neither of them could stop smiling long enough to do it properly but Dean didn’t care.

They were engaged.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ta-da! I really wanted to get this out before I left for work today so I'll have to come back and do a bit of clean up later but I need to get this out today before my brain exploded, haha :)
> 
> Also, I totally didn't even realize I broke my usual Dean/Cas POV pattern until right now but I guess Dean wanted to tell this part of the story.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Smut alert...

If it weren’t for his fear that it would ruin the moment, Castiel would have pinched himself to make sure this was actually happening but then he remembered the last several minutes and decided that only his life could be this absurd so it had to be true that Dean just agreed to marry him.

Especially considering the fact that he hadn’t even had a ring to offer at the time.

The few seconds after he’d opened the ring box and seen that there was nothing inside but black velvet had been one of the most terrifying moments in his life. His pulse, which to be honest had been a bit high to begin with since he had been right smack dab in the middle of _proposing_ , had shot through the roof and his hands had begun to sweat.

_Oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit_ , his mind had started chanting, _Oh fuck, what am I going to do?! I swear it was just here._

But then, despite the sheer terror that was rampaging its way through his body, he’d been able to meet Meg’s gaze. One look at her wide eyes coupled with her previous comments and her pointed look at his hands to Claire had a memory springing to mind...

_“Auntie Meg, can I have some gum?”  
“Sure kiddo, it’s in my purse. Go ahead and grab a piece.”_

Meg’s purse.

The purse that had held the ring box until Meg had surreptitiously slipped it to him right before she and his daughter had left the house.

A ring box that Cas hadn’t had a chance to open and check before he and Dean had spent the rest of the evening together.

The realization that Claire must have gotten into the box while she’d been in Meg’s purse unattended shot across his mind like lightning. Of course, that was why Meg was acting like a lunatic; she knew he’d been about to propose without a ring.

The irony of the whole situation was that he’d ended up proposing without a ring anyway but at the moment Castiel wasn’t concerned with that; he was too busy being wrapped up in his boyfriend’s, fiance’s actually, arms.

“I guess all your weirdness over the past couple weeks makes sense now,” Dean said, pulling back with a grin, “You’d been acting a bit squirrelly for a while, babe.”

Castiel rested his head on the other man’s shoulder and shook his head; everything seemed so much lighter now that he had finally asked but he could still remember the agonizing fear he had been experiencing ever since he had bought that ring. He’d hardly been able to breathe normally for the past few days, so it was highly likely he’d been acting strange for a while.

“I suppose that is accurate,” he agreed simply, standing straight up so he could meet Dean’s amused gaze. Castiel rested a hand on the other man’s chest, feeling the warmth of his skin through his shirt, and rubbed absentmindedly. “I was just so afraid you would say no.”

Dean scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Well that’s just silly,” he said as he ran his fingers through Castiel’s hair. “I’ve already made it very clear that I love you and I don’t ever want to be without you, why on Earth would you think I wouldn’t want to marry you?”

Now that it was all said and done, Castiel realized the other man did have a point. The nasty doubting voice in his mind had seemed so convincing before when it said that there really was no guarantee that Dean would say yes, that proposing so early in the relationship could scare the other man away. That voice sounded extremely stupid and insecure now and he told Dean as much. They stood there in the kitchen for a few more minutes, kissing and whispering like fools until Meg’s voice interrupted them.

“So I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess that lover boy said yes,” she said from her place in the doorway; Castiel could tell his friend was trying to tease them but he could tell from the twitching at the corners of her mouth that she wanted to smile. 

“I sure did, Meg,” Dean declared proudly, planting a sloppy kiss on Castiel’s cheek, “Cas is going to make an honest man out of me.” 

“About time,” the brunette replied, “I’ve been telling him forever now that you’d say yes but Mr. Fussy here kept worrying and worrying and worrying; quite frankly I was getting to the point where I was going to ask you for him.”

Castiel frowned at her. “I wasn’t that bad, Meg,” he drawled. He supposed he should be more annoyed with his friend but found it was hard to feel that way with Dean’s fingers toying absentmindedly with his shirt hem. “It’s a bit nerve wracking to find the right ring and it’s even more nerve wracking when one opens the ring box to find it empty.” This last bit was said with a pointed stare at her. If Meg hadn’t insisted on keeping the ring, all of this may not have happened the way it did.

Meg at least had the decency to blush slightly before crossing her arms. “Yeah, well I didn’t exactly plan on your munchkin being a little klepto,” she argued, nodding her head towards the living room where Claire was playing with some toys. “Besides, everything turned out fine.” She dug into her pocket and held out the object of all the evening’s chaos which Castiel snatched and immediately presented to Dean. 

“Yeah, it did,” Dean said softly, looking down at the ring and then at Castiel with a warm smile before slipping the ring on his hand and kissing his forehead. “It’s perfect Cas, I love it.” 

The warmth of the moment was spoiled a bit by the gagging noises that Meg made at witnessing this. Castiel looked over to see her making a face and he sighed; his friend could be so immature sometimes though he suspected her over exaggerated disgust was her attempt at maintaining her trademark aloof attitude. 

“Ugh, well it looks like you two lovebirds are squared away now,” she said in that mocking tone of hers as she turned to walk into the living room. “Which means me and miss Claire have saved the day so we can retire to our lair and enjoy the rest of our evening, what do you say munchkin?”

Claire jumped up from the floor with a squeal. “More princess dress up time!” She began trying to stuff her arms in her coat and soon after Dean was over helping her with putting it on. His little girl told him ‘thank you’ in that sweet voice that had Castiel’s heart melting then she gave Dean’s knees a tight hug before running back to Meg. For a minute, Castiel wondered if he should tell his daughter about the latest development between Dean and him but figured it could wait until tomorrow. With Claire being so young, it might take a while for them to help her understand so now probably wasn’t the time.

“We’ll be getting out your hair now,” Meg announced as the two of them made their way over to the hallway leading to the front door. The brunette couldn’t resist turning around just before they would have disappeared from sight to smirk and raise a teasing brow at them. “I probably won’t be bringing my partner in crime back until at least after lunch tomorrow, in case you were curious. Enjoy the rest of your evening, boys.”

And with a briefly shouted ‘goodbye daddy, bye Dean’ from Claire that echoed down the hallway, Castiel and Dean found themselves alone again.

“Well,” Dean said, looking over at him grin, his eyes twinkling with mirth, “Don’t ever let anyone tell you that you don’t know how to plan an exciting evening Cas.”

Castiel huffed a laugh at this and flopped down on the sofa, picking up his abandoned wineglass and taking a sip. “Nothing actually followed the plan in all honesty but I’d be the last person to argue with the end result,” he said as he held out a hand for Dean to join him. The other man at next him on the sofa, sliding so he was flush with the other man’s side so Castiel could wrap an arm around his shoulders. “At least we’ll always be able to say that our engagement started off with a bang.”

“A bang, huh?” Dean said, turning to look at him with a smirk; those green eyes had gone from bright and amused to dark and promising in a micro minute, causing Castiel’s heartbeat to pick up. A hand found its way to his thigh and started to skim slowly upward. “What an interesting choice of words, Cas.”

The wineglass was quickly plucked from his hand before being placed on the coffee table so Dean could situate himself in Castiel’s lap. He opened his mouth to say something, at least that’s what he thought he’d planned to do, but was distracted by the flash of silver on Dean’s hand as the other man reached to cup his face and draw him into a slow kiss; the metal of the ring was warm on his cheek and Castiel’s heart felt like it so full that it would burst out of his chest. 

He slipped his hands up the slope of his fiance’s thighs to toy aimlessly with the hem of Dean’s shirt while he lost himself in the familiar rhythm of their mouths moving together. Unable to resist the temptation, Castiel slid his hands under the fabric to map out the broad musculature of the other man’s back and to draw the hot body in his lap closer. Dean reached a hand up, brushing his fingers up and down the bolt of Castiel’s jaw right before he broke away to pepper kisses along the same path. A thought occurred to him now that his mind was a bit less distracted and it made him laugh softly.

“Mmm..what’s so funny,” Dean hummed in his ear, pausing in his ministrations. The other man had leaned back so he could see Castiel’s face, who couldn’t answer at first because Dean’s kiss reddened and swollen lips derailed his train of thought.

Shaking his head to clear the haze, he smiled and remembered his thought. “This is the exact spot where we first kissed.”

Dean’s eyes cleared momentarily and he smiled in amazement. He huffed a laugh, “I hadn’t really thought of that. That was our first make out too.” The veil of lust fell over his eyes again. “I wanted so much more than a heavy make out then but I knew we couldn’t,” he continued huskily, grinding downward with his hips teasingly, “Wanna see how I wanted that night to end?”

Castiel nodded eagerly; he wanted that very much.

He reached out to Dean but to his surprise, his fiance clambered of his lap. When he tried to protest, the other man put a finger to his lips and smirked. “Shirt off, I just need to grab a few things.”

There were probably a few buttons missing off of Castiel’s shirt now but he wasn’t exactly concerned about that; he was more interested in what Dean had in his hands as he walked back into the room. The other man placed the lube and condom on the coffee table before turning the TV to a random channel and turning out the lights, bathing the room in a dim glow. It took a second for his eyes to adjust but luckily it was just in time to see Dean peel off his shirt; the bluish-tinted light from the TV highlighted the curve of his muscles and the slight pudge on Dean’s stomach that his fiance tried to hide no matter how many times Castiel told him he loved it. Without removing his jeans, Dean nudged him so that he was on his back with his legs on the sofa and proceeded to straddle him. Apparently Dean was serious about recreating that first night. With a few alterations of course.

Castiel reached up, wrapping his arms around the other man’s back to pull them flush together; he buried his head in the curve of his neck, inhaling the spicy scent of Dean’s cologne. Their mouths met again, this time moving with more urgency as their tongues twined together; Dean’s hips twitched, grinding their hard cocks together, and Castiel’s hands immediately gripped his ass to encourage him to keep going. The kiss finally broke as they both gasped and moaned.

“Fuck,” Dean groaned, hips grinding harder with each downward thrust. “I was going to drag this out some more but--oh---but I really need to ride you into this couch.”

If it weren’t for the uncomfortable bite of denim against his erection, Castiel would have had made a mess of his underwear at hearing this statement instead he sat up, almost dislodging Dean from his perch, and frantically pawed at the button and zipper of the other man’s jeans. When it was obvious that his fingers were too clumsy to accomplish anything, Dean pushed his hands away and got off him long enough to hurriedly shuck off his pants while Castiel managed to slide his own down past his balls. 

He was going to try and kick them off but Dean was having none of that and, after grabbing their supplies, took his place on Castiel’s stomach; Castiel attempted to pull the other man to him but instead found his hands pinned to the arm of the couch.

“Nope, you’re going to keep your hands to yourself while I get ready, mister,” Dean chided, grinning smugly. He grabbed the lube from beside his leg and popped the cap. Castiel eyed the leaking erection in front of him.

Not wanting to waste an opportunity, he met the other man’s gaze. “Want you in my mouth,” he bargained, attempting to consciously affect the ‘puppy eyes’ Dean accused him of using to get his own way. His fiance seemed to ponder this for a moment before shrugging, a rakish glint in his eyes.

“Alright then,” he said, shuffling up so he was on Castiel’s chest, his hard cock stopping just in front of his mouth. “Open up, big guy.”

Dean moaned and clutched at his hair as he slid his erection into his mouth; Castiel didn’t have a large range of motion in this position but he attempted to make up for the lack of real movement with creativity. He was vaguely aware of Dean’s free hand working behind himself so that the other man was rocking back onto his fingers and forward into Castiel’s mouth. He moaned around the head of his fiance’s dick as he imagined sliding into Dean which had the other man gasping.

“The fucking mouth--on you,” he panted. Dean glanced down at him, eyes half lidded with pleasure. “If I didn’t have--plans for your cock, I’d be t-tempted to just have--you get me off like this but---” 

Castiel made a sound of protest as Dean moved away so that his erection pulled out of his mouth; he didn’t have long to mourn the loss however because a few seconds later a condom was being slid over his long ignored cock and he gasped. Dean chuckled lowly and continued, “I really wanna take you for a ride.” Then without any further preamble, he moved down Castiel’s body and slid himself slowly down on his cock. 

After so much teasing, Castiel could have cried when Dean started to move and wanted to actually cry when it became clear that his fiance’s pace was going to be achingly slow; he knew it was on purpose from the smile on that handsome face. He gripped Dean’s hips, trying to force him to move but the other man shook his head; Castiel opened his mouth to protest but then he saw the intense look in those green eyes. What had started as a playful and teasing romp had somehow become something deeper. It took a few deep breaths to calm his raging libido but he managed it and gave Dean a small nod, showing that he understood. Dean’s smile softened and he rolled his hips in a steady rhythm, slow and smooth.

The build was so damn slow it was almost mind-numbing but that didn’t matter. Not when he was looking up into the face of the man he was going to marry, drinking in every twitch and tick that flashed across it as Dean leisurely brought them both closer and closer to the edge. Their breathing was getting more and more labored and it was obvious the other man was getting tired; Castiel held up his hands and grabbed Dean’s, interlocking their fingers. Dean redoubled his efforts and Castiel found himself trying desperately to hold on, to wait for Dean because it suddenly seemed very important that they tumbled off that cliff together. 

“Dean, I--” Castiel choked out, his tone almost pleading. Pleading for what, he didn’t rightfully know at the moment but Dean seemed to understand.

“It’s okay, Castiel,” he panted, hips grinding down harder and harder with each movement but never breaking the steady rhythm. “I’m right--right here---just a litt--oh!”

Dean stiffened, back bowed in a tight arc, and cried out as he came in spurts over his stomach and chest, hips jerking minutely and dragging Castiel over with him. In the split second before the dam broke, Castiel was blown away by just how much he loved this amazing, handsome man and then he was coming so hard, he could have sworn he saw stars. Aftershocks seemed to wrack their bodies forever before Dean finally collapsed on his chest, breathing like he’d just run a marathon. Castiel’s hands roamed the slick skin of Dean’s back sluggishly while Dean pet his chest.

Neither of them said anything as they laid there on the couch, hearts still racing with sweat coating their skin but then Castiel figured, they didn’t really need to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So...  
> 
> 
> I am truly sorry for how long it's taken to update this story. Every time I sat with this chapter open on my computer only to close it in frustration and attempt to work on something else (not that those attempt were any more successful), I felt soooo guilty but it just _would not_ go from my brain to the computer. If any of you are still reading, I hope that this fluffy and hopefully romantic sexy smut will help you all forgive me for neglecting this story; I'm going to try my damnedest to do better for you guys.
> 
> And about the rating change, I figured I better up the rating because according to my outline for this story (that's how serious I've gotten about this one, I made an _actual story outline_ ), there will be at least a few more smutty bits. If you're reading this and smut isn't your thing, leave a comment on the chapter in question and I'll give you a smut-free summary; I figured it was only fair since the original story was "M" and so was this one before. I wouldn't want anyone to miss out on account of me having a filthy filthy mind.
> 
> As always, thank you...thank you...thank you for reading.


	5. Chapter 5

It turned out that telling Claire about him and Cas getting married wasn’t nearly as difficult as they’d thought it would be.

Cas, of course, had been nervous beyond belief. Dean had been forced to talk the other man down a few times as they’d laid in there bed the morning after the big proposal, wrapped around each other in the rumpled sheets. He hadn’t minded though, this was a big moment for the other man and he deserved a little bit of a freak out. Plus it had given him an excuse to pull his fiance back against him so he could wrap his arms around him snugly. 

 

“Everything will be fine, Cas,” he’d murmured into his fiance’s sex mussed hair as he ran his hands idly over all the skin he could reach without moving. They’d had a long night and Dean had still been feeling the effects of the multiple romps they’d had. “Hell, she actually called this from the beginning if I remember correctly.”

This had made other man laugh. “You know, I’d almost forgotten about that,” he’d said, his voice filled with amusement at the memory of Claire telling her teacher that one day he and Cas would be married. “I suppose if she were older that she would take this opportunity to tell us ‘I told you so.’”

“Oh I’m sure some day down the line we’ll get to hear that,” Dean had chuckled as the movements of his hands started to become more purposeful, his mind getting distracted from their serious conversation. “Claire doesn’t seem like the kind of girl who forgets things.”

“Yes, just like her mother,” Cas had sighed, a small smile on his face. “Amelia didn’t let me forget when she was right about something.”

They’d lapsed into silence for a while, both of them feeling completely contented and as prepared as they could be for the upcoming conversation, before Dean’s wandering hands were joined by Cas’. The rest of their time alone was spent thoroughly taking advantage of the knowledge that they had several hours left before the girls came back. 

 

Meg didn’t bring Claire back until it was almost suppertime; when asked why they were so late, the brunette blithely cited an unplanned shopping trip as the cause of their late return. Cas gave her a disapproving frown.

“You shouldn’t be buying Claire new toys every time you go out, Meg” he admonished her as the two men looked at the two shopping bags full of purchases. “I don’t want her to get spoiled.”

This only earned him an eye roll and a sigh. “Clarence, you’re such a buzzkill sometimes,” she told the dark haired man. Meg uncrossed her arms and gestured at the bags that were near where Claire played on the floor with a coloring book and crayon set Dean was sure she hadn’t had when she’d left. “First of all, I bought her some new clothes, a totally useful purchase,” she argued, ticking off her points on her fingers, “Second, I actually haven’t bought my favorite munchkin anything in over a month which is a decent amount of time between presents and third and finally, so what if I want to spoil her a bit? I’m her aunt, that gives me the right to spoil my niece as much as I was so you can just suck it, sourpuss.”

The tell tale stormy expression on Cas’ face signaled to Dean that this was about to turn into one of the insult-fests that, by some unknown miracle, didn’t affect the friends’ relationship; Dean always figured that must meant they were like him and Charlie in the argument department i.e. insulting each other at every opportunity. A conversation without some sort of dig was considered unnerving him and his own best friend. So, with this in mind, he slipped between the two of them.

“Okay, let’s holster the biting sarcasm,” he said calmly, placing a placating hand on his fiance’s shoulder and looking over at the living room pointedly, “Little ears are present and let me tell you, those things remember every single bad word they hear no matter how quiet you say them and damned if they don’t like to pop up at the best time.” He chuckled as a few memories of some of the more colorful language he’d heard from a few of his previous client’s children flashed through his brain. His personal favorite being a little boy named Jessie who was beside himself insisting that it was actually ‘that goddamned doorbell’ since that was how his dad always said it. “And I don’t feel like having to have the bad words talk just yet.”

As if on cue, both Cas and Meg rolled their eyes at each other, once again proving that despite their arguments, they were sometimes the same person. However they did mellow out a bit. The brunette’s eyes zeroed in on her friend’s shoulder; Dean noticed a satisfied smile curling the edges of her mouth as she caught sight of the ring on his hand.

“Well, I guess I can let it go for now, Clarence,” she declared airly, motioning towards the pair of them. The amount of self satisfaction rolling off of the small woman was practically palpable, making Dean want to roll his own eyes. Meg was shamelessly enjoying the fact that she was right about him saying yes to Cas; he figured his fiance would most definitely be getting a heaping dose of ‘I told you so’ from her the next time they found the chance to have one of their gabbing sessions. “But only because I need to be hitting the bricks; I’ve got some grocery shopping to do and I’m guessing you two need to have some sort of family meeting with the littlest member.”

Annoyed by the brunette’s smug attitude, though at this point one would think he’d be used to it, Dean was trying to see if there was a smart-assed remark to be made about having to go pull up the minutes from the last meeting or something like that when Cas cut him off. His fiance waved goodbye to his friend, wishing Meg goodnight and thanking her again for keeping their girl for the night. The woman shrugged off in that aloof way that she must have taken years to perfect before leaving.

Once Meg had left, Cas reached up and grabbed Dean’s hand. It was a new habit the other man had seemed to have developed ever since he had reverently slipped the ring on his finger the night before after that intense love making session on the couch had left them in a sweaty and exhausted pile of limbs. Any time they were close enough for the dark haired man to reach out and grab his hand, he’d begin worrying the metal between his fingers. 

Not that Dean minded of course, the unconscious action was actually sort of adorable in his opinion; it was like Cas needed to make sure that the ring was truly there and not a figment of his imagination. If it weren’t for the fact that Dean was still getting used to the weight of his engagement ring and therefore was always aware of it, he’d probably feel the need to check that last night hadn’t been a crazy wonderful dream.

“Do you think we should tell her now?” Cas asked, breaking him out of his thoughts. 

Dean looked over to where the little girl had abandoned her coloring book in favor of chatting animatedly with her stuffed tiger, probably filling in Thomas (Thomas T. Tiger to be exact) about her visit with her Auntie Meg. She was gesturing wildly as she illustrated some point and seemed to still be pretty hyper. Her eyes were wide with delighted energy and a large smile stretched across her face.

“Hmmm...maybe wait until after we eat,” he hummed thoughtfully in response to his fiance’s question, leaning down to kiss his cheek then taking back his hand so he could wrap his arms around the other man’s waist as they stood back to front. “She’s still pretty wired from her little adventure so getting her settled enough to eat is going to be hard enough, adding a big announcement might make it worse.”

“That sounds like a plan,” the other man replied, stepping away despite Dean’s grumbled protests. Cas smiled, patting him on the cheek, before tugging him towards the kitchen. “Come on, let’s get dinner ready.”

 

Dinner went smoothly enough considering that Claire was still a bit hyper; the little girl had a hard time sitting still while her dad dished out her macaroni and cheese and cut up her pork chop into little pieces. Eventually, after multiple attempts by Cas to get her to sit down, Dean resorted to using what Cas called his ‘nanny voice’. The other man had pointed out this trait to him a while ago but personally, Dean didn’t see it.

“Claire, how do big girls sit at the kitchen table?” he reminded her, looking pointedly at where she crouched on her chair like a little blonde bird.

She looked up at him, bottom lip stuck out in a pout that Dean had to work very hard to not find adorable considering he was trying to be in reprimand mode, before answering somewhat glumly as she sat down with a thump, “With their bottoms on the seat.” 

There was a small snort of laughter from Cas as he settled down in his seat with his own plate. The other man always got a weird kick out of all the little rules that Dean had taught Claire; when he’d asked why teaching Claire about manners was so amusing, Cas had cited his less than perfect table manners despite Dean’s protests. 

He couldn’t be held responsible for the sauce smeared on his face at the time; it wasn’t his fault they had been eating chicken wings when they’d had that little conversation.

Soon enough, they all cleared their plates. Cas looked at him, apprehension plain on his face and a bit of fear in his eyes if Dean wasn’t mistaken. He nodded his head ever so slightly and smiled in encouragement; Cas was Claire’s father which meant that he really should be the one to break the news. The other man took a deep breath, fidgeting with where to put his hands before settling on folding them on the table in front of him. They both looked over at Claire who was squashing a few leftover macaroni noodles with her little plastic fork; their eyes met again.

This was it, time for the big reveal. A weird twisty fluttery feeling had taken up shop in Dean’s stomach; he couldn’t imagine how his fiance must feel.

“Claire, sweetheart,” Cas said gently, turning in his chair so that he was facing his daughter fully. She looked up from her plate, tilting her head in an action that was so similar to her father that it made Dean’s heart swell. “Dean and I have something we want to tell you.”

“Are we getting a puppy?!” she exclaimed, her face lighting up instantly as she dropped her fork and began clapping her little hands together in excitement, bouncing in her seat. Dean fought the urge to laugh; kids jumped to the strangest conclusions sometimes.

Cas licked his lips and smiled nervously. “Um, well no,” he continued, the unexpected turn having derailed what had to be his meticulously planned out speech. He looked over at Dean again for support which he gave in the form of a warm smile. “You see, the other night, Daddy asked Dean if he wanted to get married and well...he said yes.”

If his fiance had planned on saying or had actually said anything else, Dean never knew what it was. For as soon as these words were out of the other man’s mouth, a loud and high pitched scream began emanating from Claire. Despite all his years of working with children, the former nanny had to wonder how such a loud sound came from such a small child.

“We’re gonna be a family!” she squealed, launching herself up so she was standing on her chair. Her blue eyes were shining brightly as she jumped up and down, practically vibrating with eagerness. Before either of them could stop and help her, Claire was scrambling down off her perch and scurrying over to throw herself at Dean. “I’m so happy; I get to have two Daddies now!”

Her voice was muffled by the fabric of Dean’s shirt but he heard her clearly enough. Cas had too if the glassy cast to his fiance’s eyes was any indication; not that Dean was doing any better. He found himself sniffing back a few manly tears himself but he dared any man to have dry eyes when a little angel like this said something so sweet. 

He patted her blond hair gently. “I’m happy too, sweetie,” he replied, his voice definitely not cracking slightly with emotion, before lifting her to sit in his lap and wrapping his arms around her in a tight hug. Cas looked like he was about to crack his face in two, he was smiling at the pair of them so hard. This was definitely going to be one of those moment that Dean remembered when he was old and grey. 

“Ooooh, Daddy!” Claire said suddenly, look at her father with an even more excited smile, if such a thing were possible. She wriggled out of Dean’s lap and ran over to him, her little feet pattering over the kitchen floor before jumping up and down slightly next to Cas’ chair. “Can we look at flower girl dresses on the computer?! I wanna look like Belle! I can have a pretty yellow dress with pretty shoes and, oooh, some flowers…”

Oh....well shit.

Dean looked up at Cas, their eyes meeting in twin looks of surprise mixed with a slight hint of dread; it appeared that the same thought was occurring to his fiance as they listened to Claire going into various details of what her flower girl dress should look like. It seems in the excitement of being engaged, they’d forgotten a teeny tiny fact.

They now had to plan a wedding.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this chapter is a bit short but I think if I'd added the next bit that I had originally planned to be here then the chapter would have been too long. Plus, I really wanted to get something posted for all you lovely people who are sticking around to read this. You guys are awesome and deserve more than one update every month and a half. I won't promise a new chapter soon since I always seem to fail to keep it but I'm going to try really hard to update soon.
> 
> I hope you liked this bit of fluff and thank you for reading. :)


	6. Chapter 6

“Do you have any experience in planning a wedding?” Castiel asked later that night.

They were currently in their room, getting ready for bed. Dean was already in his pajamas and currently in the bathroom brushing his teeth when he decided to broach the subject; the other man held up a finger before spitting in the sink and looking at him, brow knit in confusion.

“Not really,” Dean answered, rinsing quickly and wiping his mouth. His fiance leaned against the bathroom door, arms crossed his broad chest. “Don’t you? I mean, I figured since you’ve been married before that, well, you knew how things were going to go.”

Castiel pulled on his sleep t-shirt, laughing softly. “Dean, I wasn’t really involved in all the actual wedding preparations,” he confessed, thinking fondly of the time leading up to his wedding to Amelia, “I just went where I was supposed to go, wore what I was told to wear and helped put out proverbial fires when ordered to; I was told that was the best way for a groom to survive the wedding.”

Dean raised an intrigued eyebrow at this as he walked over to get into bed.

“Amelia wasn’t a ‘bride-zilla’,” Castiel said, answering the unasked question. The idea of sweet Amelia being one of those spoiled rotten, demanding brides like in those annoying reality shows was ridiculous but he supposed he couldn’t fault Dean for the assumption. “I was advised by my father-in-law that staying out from underfoot was in my best interest.”

“So you weren’t involved at all?” his fiance asked, leaning back against the headboard. Castiel put toothpaste on his toothbrush and thought back on that time.

He had been involved; he remembered getting his tux fitted, helping pick the venue and church and all the other things that a soon-to-be-married couple is meant to do together. It was a time he still remembered with affection after all these years, in spite of how everything eventually ended. He felt a dull twinge in his chest as his mind touched on his wife’s passing but simply acknowledged the feeling before pushing it aside gently with the ease brought on by many years of practice.

Waving his toothbrush around aimlessly, he answered truthfully, “I did some of the more basic things that required my input but as for the numerous smaller details, Amelia and her mother took those decisions and tasks for themselves,” He began brushing his own teeth.

“Well, I was kind of banking on you knowing what you were doing,” Dean replied, looking thoughtful, his hands toying with the blankets as he waited for Castiel to join him. “I guess we could always hire a wedding planner or something.”

Spitting into the sink, Castiel turned to look at him in confusion. “Why would we need a wedding planner?” he asked, “I wouldn’t mind a courthouse wedding; that is, if you don’t mind either.”

He rinsed his mouth and turned off the bathroom light, padding over to the bed and crawling in. Dean hummed in contentment as he slid forward and pulled Dean’s back to his chest, spooning him. 

“To be honest, I think Claire would be completely bummed if we didn’t have an actual wedding,” Dean said, his voice rumbling into Castiel’s chest, “You saw how excited she was tonight, wanting to be our flower girl. I would feel pretty shitty if she didn’t get to experience that just because we couldn’t man up and plan a little wedding.”

Castiel pressed a kiss to the back of Dean’s head, breathing in the scent of the other man’s hair, and marveling at just how sweet his fiancé was. He figured not many people would be contemplating putting on a wedding just to make a little girl happy. “You have a point,” he agreed, snuggling up even tighter against his fiance. “What if we had the wedding here? Maybe a small ceremony in the backyard.”

Dean made a thoughtful sound, brushing his thumb over the skin of Castiel’s hand where it was draped over his side. The soothing motion and the fact that neither of them had really slept the previous night had fatigue starting to tug at the lids of his eyes but he forced himself to stay alert, if just for little while longer. Castiel wanted to finish this conversation before they nodded off and the evidence pointed to him not being alone in that respect. The fuzzy quality of Dean’s voice when he spoke showed that he too was feeling the effects of a long, exciting night and day.

“That could work,” Dean murmured, obviously starting to drop off as his words became softer and softer, taking a sigh-like quality. “The yard looks really nice in the summer. Besides, what better place to get married than where we fell for each other, kinda poetic you know?”

Chuckling quietly to himself once his fiance started to snore lightly, finally succumbing to the need to sleep, Castiel settled comfortably behind the other man and allowed his eyes to close. Dean must have been exhausted; he had noticed the other man’s filter had the tendency to disappear when he was tired and he was more liable to say thing that the other man would normally classify as ‘mushy’. Castiel personally didn’t have a problem with this since it it meant he was allowed to hear Dean say the nicest things without the other man feeling embarrassed, something that always made his chest all warm and tight.

As he too started to drift off, Castiel decided that Dean was right. A nice backyard wedding with only their closest friends and family sounded perfect. 

 

The next morning Castiel woke up to a slight bulge in his sleep pants. It was a state of affairs that appeared to be happening much more often than it had when he had been sleeping alone and he placed the blame for it directly on his bedmate. And considering that bedmate in question was currently rubbing at his stomach, hand dangerously close to the result of this early morning stimulation, Castiel didn’t think that this accusation was unfair.

“Mmm...Dean,” he grumbled sleepily into his pillow, shifting his hips in an attempt to knock his fiance’s hand away. “It’s too early, go back to sleep.”

Despite the fact they had been cohabitating for some time, Dean still had yet to understand that Castiel was _not_ a morning person. Not to say he didn’t enjoy morning sex, it was just that his definition of ‘morning’ probably fit more into the ‘late morning’ category. Lately he’d been getting spoiled on the weekends since Dean was more than happy to get out of bed and tend to Claire which meant Castiel got to lay in bed for a little while longer. Unfortunately, there was one downside.

Dean Winchester was apparently very frisky in the mornings. 

Lips danced along the bolt of his jaw and he heard a low chuckle. “Good morning to you too, sunshine. It’s never too early for this,” he murmured huskily into Castiel’s ear before sliding his hand under the waistband of his pants. “Besides, we need to celebrate.”

“Isn’t at that what we did all night the other night and most of yesterday morning?” Castiel mumbled, his voice muffled by the pillow he was currently trying meld with. It wasn’t that he wasn’t good for another round of ‘celebrating’, he just wanted to sleep at bit more first.

“Not our engagement,” Dean said, lips tickling the skin of Castiel’s ear. Fingers were now dancing teasingly around the base of his cock and it was making it very difficult to remember why he wanted to sleep. “I thought of a solution to our problem.”

Now the fingers were curled loosely around him, moving up and down slowly; Castiel’s hips were moving with the motion as his fuzzy, sleep soaked mind began to crawl towards full consciousness. He heard Dean chuckle as he rubbed at his face and rolled onto his back, a sure sign Castiel was finally admitting defeat.

Damn that man and his talented hands, making him wake up this early on a Sunday.

“There we are,” Dean cooed, kissing his neck. “You’re so easy, all it takes is a hand on you and you’re up and at’em.” He slowed his movements, keeping Castiel’s arousal humming at a constant level. “Now we can discuss battle plans for asking Charlie and Meg to help with planning our wedding.”

Castiel’s eyes, which had fallen shut again as he focused on the hand down the front of his underwear, shot open before glaring at his fiancé. “Can we not talk about our best friends while you're doing...this?!” he grumbled while gesturing downwards with one hand.

While it was true that he had had sex with Meg in college, that didn’t mean that he wanted to have her mentioned while receiving a handjob from his fiancé and he would think Dean would feel the same way about his best friend.

Dean tightened his hand and began to jack him faster, making Castiel inhale sharply and his hips buck up. “Well if _somebody_ would wake up before midday all on his own,” the other man teased, both with his words and his strokes on Castiel's dick. “I wouldn’t have to persuade you into...getting up.”

Castiel rolled his eyes at the innuendo but choked on his attempt to return the favor when Dean apparently decided the time for playing was over. The other man pulled out all the stops, swiftly bringing him to the edge; it was so fast that Castiel’s hands scrabbled at the fabric of Dean’s shirt, needing something to hold onto as his body was pulled taut by the sudden onslaught. He could feel Dean’s mouth curl into a smirk as he nipped and sucked at the sensitive skin of his neck, a move practically guaranteed to make him shiver.

“Dean,” he breathed, his hand clamping down on his fiance’s bicep as he felt the heat build rapidly, strong enough to have his toes curling, before his orgasm washed over him in throbbing waves. A hot mouth covered his, thankfully, to contain the loud groan that Castiel was sure had issued from him. 

They made out languidly as Castiel came down and his breathing leveled out. It occurred to him that Dean’s little scheme had backfired since now all he wanted to do was to give the other man a taste of his own medicine and then take a short nap. He whined when Dean finally rolled away, taking his addicting lips and body heat with him.

“There, now that you’re awake,” Dean said with a business like manner completely at odds with the mussed hair and swollen lips he was sporting and the fact he was cleaning Castiel’s come off his hand with a tissue. Castiel raised a brow at him as a tissue was held out in his direction.

Did Dean really think he could get him off and just go back to talking about his plan for planning their wedding?

“--Now I was thinking that you could talk to Meg and I could--” Dean continued before being cut off as Castiel rolled on top of him. His fiance looked up at him with a heated smirk, hands laid next to his head.

“What you can do is lay there while I blow you so well you forget all about this little plan that you felt the need to wake me up this damn early to talk about,” Castiel growled, kissing Dean hard before sliding down his body. “Then we can discuss it all you like.”

Dean attempted to protest but Castiel had already disappeared under the blankets to get to the task at hand grinning internally at the sound of his fiance’s argument for discussing his plan now was cut short by a shuddering gasp.

There, now it was a good morning.

 

Later, after they had firmly established that waking up Castiel with sex was a surefire way to wake him up early but it led an inordinate amount of time spent lazing in bed before actually get up, they were forced to crawl out of bed by the rapid pounding on their bedroom door. 

“Daddy! Dean!” a little voice shouted through the door. “Can I comes in?!”

They shared an amused look at this; it was yet another occurrence that was being coming more common ever since Dean had moved in.

Shortly after the other man had moved in, it was quickly established that Claire’s habit of bursting into Castiel’s room whenever she wanted was probably not a good thing. This hadn’t been an issue of course before Dean because Castiel, worried about being walked in on, had taken care of his personal issues in the shower for the most part so there was no danger of his little girl seeing things she shouldn’t. Now that he and Dean were sleeping in the same bed, it occurred to them that they might want time to themselves at night or in the mornings and the idea that the door might slam open at any point presented a problem.

Dean said that it couldn’t hurt to start teaching Claire the concept of privacy so they sat her down and explained that when people shut their doors, it meant that if someone wanted to come in, they had to knock first and wait to be told it was okay to enter. Claire, being the intelligent little girl she was, easily understood the concept and actually enforced it for her own room. While it seemed she didn’t truly understand why people valued privacy, Castiel quickly realized his daughter vastly enjoyed knocking loudly on doors and being able to tell people to come in when they knocked on her door.

Sitting upright after a check that all evidence of their morning wake up was gone, Dean answered. “Yes, you may come in.”

The door slammed open and blonde comet burst into the room, catapulting onto the bed. She snuggled between the two of them and began chattering about the dream she’d had about being a fairy princess superhero who was fighting an alien in space. As like any other morning they were regaled with this mighty saga as they all trooped down to the kitchen to get breakfast.

Dean and Castiel, well mainly Dean, cooked up a quick breakfast of eggs and bacon and their morning proceeded like any other; Claire ate about half her food before attempting to feed it to her doll while Castiel and Dean looked at the news on their phones and reminded the little girl that Ms. Margaret didn’t like real food. This of course led to Claire becoming bored and racing off to start playing with her toys, begging for someone to play tea party with her which in turn led to other activities that apparently needed to be done right then.

Caught up in their contented routine and being kept busy by an energetic child, neither of them thought to talk about Dean’s plan on how to plan their wedding until during Claire’s naptime after lunch.

They were picking up the toys scattered around the living room in preparation for the next round of playtime when Dean suddenly stood up, a look of realization on his face. “Hey!” he exclaimed, pointing at Castiel accusingly. “You distracted me with that sneaky mouth of yours this morning and we never talked about my idea!”

Depositing his armload of legos into the toy bin, Castiel was forced to nod in agreement. “Yes, that does seem to be what happened,” he agreed walking over to stand in front of Dean. He smirked smugly before leaning in to kiss his fiance languorously before pulling away. “But I think the word you’re looking for is ‘fantastic’, my fantastically skilled mouth distracted you.”

“You’re such a smart ass,” Dean pouted at him but the effect was ruined by the hint of a smile tugging at his mouth. Another kiss, helped to melt the rest of his fiance’s annoyance. “Ugh, stop being so damn kissable, I’m trying to be mad that you distracted me.”

“It’s not my fault you’re easily distracted, Dean,” Castiel replied, giving the other man one last kiss before stepping back, hands held up. “So I’ll make things easy on you, I’ll go all the way over there and clean up the sad remains of the ‘spaceship’ while you tell me about your plan.”

Dean followed him over to where Claire had constructed a spaceship out of the kitchen chairs and some blankets. His fiance leaned against the back of the couch while Castiel tidied up.

“Well, I got to thinking this morning,” Dean began, crossing his arms, “And our problem is neither of us knows what we’re doing so I tried to remember if I knew anyone who’d been in one and then it hit me, Charlie can help.”

“Am I to assume that she’s been in a wedding?” Castiel asked as he carried an armful of blankets to the couch.

Dean hummed thoughtfully. “Not that I know of,” he replied, walking over to start putting the chairs to rights. It seemed that his fiancé couldn’t curb his cleaning impulse. “But I remembered that she made me promise that she could plan my big gay wedding, her words not mine,” he made sure to clarify. “This was back before I met you; back then she was constantly hounding me about finding someone to settle down with.”

“But only if it was a gay wedding?” Castiel asked curiously as the phrase registered. Dean, like himself, was bisexual so as much as he hated to think of his fiancé with someone else, it was possible Dean could have ended up in a relationship with a woman. “What if you had gotten married to a woman?”

Dean laughed and shook his head. “Oh, I know she still would have helped,” he answered, handing him a few wayward toys to put in the toy box. “The main goal was to get me settled down I think; she knew how much I wanted to meet someone and start a family. As for the gay part, well…” His fiance shrugged and grinned. “I’m going to say that that was a lucky guess on her part.”

Having finally put away the last of the mess of toys, which was most likely going right back to the way it had been as soon as Claire woke up, Castiel walked over and pulled Dean in. 

He wasn’t sure if it was lingering fuzzy feelings from Dean accepting his proposal or if he was feeling a bit clingy in general but Castiel just couldn't resist showering Dean with gentle kisses. It seemed that the other man had some sort of magnetic pull that he couldn’t, and didn’t want to, resist. Besides, Dean didn’t seem to mind the extra attention.

“I’m certainly glad she was right,” Castiel hummed contentedly, his voice muffled slightly from where his face pressed into Dean’s shoulder as he hugged him tightly. Dean didn’t answer, instead bringing their mouths together again.

A few minutes of slow unhurried kissing passed before Dean suddenly pulled away, a mock accusatory expression on his face. “Hey! Stop trying to distract me,” he said pointing at him with faux severity. “I’m on to your game, Novak.”

Shaking his head, Castiel stepped back and raised his hands in defeat. “Alright, you caught me,” he sighed dramatically. “I’m trying to procrastinate; I’m just not looking forward to all the craziness a wedding entails.”

Dean’s expression didn’t change from his amused smile but Castiel noticed a flash of hurt and disappointment and immediately felt guilt pool in his stomach. What had he been thinking, saying that he wasn’t looking forward to the wedding?

“I said that wrong,” he said hurriedly, eyes wide and pleading, “I’m certainly looking forward to the wedding and getting married; it’s the stress involved with planning that I’m dreading. Don’t think for a minute that I regret this.” Here he reached out and grasped the hand that held Dean’s ring and held between his own, kissing it as he tried to wipe away the hurt he’d caused with his thoughtless words.

Agonizing seconds passed before Dean’s eyes softened. “I know you don’t, Cas,” he said, allowing Castiel to breathe again.

He wasn’t sure what he’d done something to ruin what he had with this wonderful man.

Dean patted him on the cheek, smiling. “You’re worrying too much,” he continued as he pulled Castiel around to sit on the couch. His fiance flopped down onto the sofa suddenly and laughed when his grip on Castiel caused him to follow with an indignant grunt. He found himself being wrapped tightly in Dean’s arms as the other man spoke into his ear. “We agreed to have a small wedding and we’re going to ask for help.” There was a pause in which Dean seemed to gather his thoughts. “I’m not saying it’ll be stress free but I don’t think it’s going to be the horrible slog that you’re imagining.”

Castiel sighed. Maybe Dean was right and he was being a worry wart, as if this would be anything new. If Castiel had a dollar for every time the other man had had to talk him down from one self-invented disaster or another he’d be extremely rich. Sometimes he marvelled at how much Dean must love him to put up with his more than slightly neurotic ways.

It was possible that he was projecting the strain of putting together a two hundred guest wedding onto the decidedly smaller ceremony that he and Dean wished to have. That being the only experience he’d had since Amelia and her mother had wanted a large wedding; his late wife had been very social and thrived in that sort of environment, unlike Castiel, but he’d agreed since it had made her happy. 

And if he wanted to make Dean happy, Castiel needed to get a handle on his own issues. It was just a wedding and a small one at that; if that was all that the man he loved wanted, he could just man up and get over himself.

“I think I’m just having flashbacks to the hassles Amelia and I had,” he admitted sheepishly, glancing at his fiance from the corner of his eye. The other man nodded in understanding.

“That’s normal I would think,” Dean answered, tone completely sympathetic. “I would be surprised if all this didn’t bring up some memories.”

Castiel looked over at his fiance skeptically. “And you’re okay with that?” he asked, needing to know, “With me thinking about that while we plan our own wedding?” 

So far in their relationship, they had talked about Castiel’s previous marriage but not in much detail; Dean knew all the particulars, about how he and Amelia had gotten married right out of college, how shortly after his wife had become pregnant and how she passed away when their daughter had been born but by an unspoken agreement, they never discussed it depth.

The other man seemed to sense that it was a subject Castiel chose not to dwell on and respected his decision but that didn’t mean that he would be comfortable with Amelia’s specter hovering around the edges of their nuptials. 

Dean’s brows furrowed in mild confusion. “Of course I don’t mind,” he said as if this were obvious, he laid a warm hand on top of Castiel’s where it rested on his thigh, gripping it firmly. “It just shows that you’re human, how could I be mad at you for that?”

Of course when Dean put it that way, Castiel’s fears sounded silly and unwarranted. 

“Okay, if you’re sure that it doesn’t bother you,” Castiel finally replied, feeling an immense amount of relief at hearing this.

Dean kissed him on the cheek. “I’m more than sure,” he said, giving him a second peck on the cheek before patting him on the leg. “Now, I’m going to get the munchkin up from her nap and at some point here this week you need to talk to Meg about the wedding thing, sound good?”

“Sounds good,” Castiel agreed, enjoying the weight that fell off his shoulders. Dean stood up and went up stairs, leaving Castiel to contemplate the least painful way to get Meg to agree to help plan the wedding with the least amount of ridicule.

_Yeah, like there’s any chance of that_ , he thought to himself ruefully but the memory of how happy Dean seemed about the wedding flashed through his mind; he smiled at the thought. _But it will definitely be worth it_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the wait everyone, I was trying to do a thing here and it took a bit more thought than I figured. Fingers crossed it will work like I wanted it to. 
> 
> Anyway, as penance for taking longer than I'd planned, have some lazy morning sexy times. :)


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll have to edit this later since I'm posting from my phone.

Dean took a deep breath as he exited the elevator at Guardian Angel Nanny agency, bracing himself for the herculean task he’d set for himself today. It was one that would be fraught with danger and he wasn’t sure if he was going to survive the day. 

Today he was going to tell Charlie about being engaged.

He made his way onto the agency’s floor, walking to the reception desk. Now that he was the director of talent, a fancy way of saying Dean handled hiring the new nannies and organizing the staff, a second computer had been set up for him there. This meant that his days were definitely kept interesting thanks to the constant commentary from his desk mate.

It also meant that he was in close proximity to his best friend and that meant keeping secrets was futile.

On the way to work this morning, Dean had agonized over what to say. Should he be witty about it and act laid back? Should he just announce it and get straight to the point? Or, maybe he could ask about the wedding planning first which would obviously lead to the engagement topic? 

Anyone who had passed by him during his commute today had probably thought that Dean was insane, talking and gesturing wildly to himself in the car. This was a result of his attempt to practice his lines but none of them seemed right. In his defense, it wasn’t like he’d ever had to drop this big of a news bomb on his best friend; this was completely uncharted territory.

All this preparation and worry turned out to be useless in the end of course.

As soon as he went to turn on his computer after he’d said good morning to a drowsy looking Charlie, a small but surprisingly strong little hand shot out like a rattlesnake and gripped his wrist so tight that he may have squeaked a bit. This lightning quick movement was accompanied by a loud shriek.

“Oh my Spock!! Are you serious?!” Her other hand reached out to smack him on the arm. “Why didn’t you report this information to your Queen, handmaiden?”

Dean grimaced as Charlie assaulted his eardrums but a satisfied grin spread across his face almost immediately. “Yes, I’m serious and I was going to tell to tell you this morning but you attacked me before I could say anything,” he replied, attempting to sound aloof but deep down he knew he was excited to tell someone. Charlie still held his hand in a death grip so his arm was pulled awkwardly to one side. “Can I have my arm back now?”

“No,” Charlie replied matter of factly, her eyes never leaving the ring on Dean’s hand. “I’m not done looking yet.” There was a few beats of silence as she examined it before she finally released him. “It’s gorgeous,” she declared, sitting back in her chair. “But in like a manly way. Cas has excellent taste.”

“Of course he does,” Dean replied, not one to miss an opportunity when presented. “He’s marrying me after all.”

Charlie rolled her eyes and sighed, crossing her arms and looking nonplussed. “Yeah, yeah, I walked right into that one but who cares?” she said hurriedly before leaning forward and putting her elbows on her knees and rest her chin on her hands, the very picture of eager. “Give me my details, the rights of friendship demand you share all of them.”

Shaking his head and chuckling, Dean sat down and gave her the scoop.

 

“Wow, only you two, I swear,” Charlie said, wiping away tears of laughter at the conclusion of Dean’s tale. “But at least your little munchkin was involved, it’s kind of fitting considering how you guys met and all.”

Dean nodded. “You’re right, I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he said, absentmindedly toying with the ring on his finger. He was still getting used to the weight on his hand but it made him feel all warm and tinglingly inside all the times he noticed it.

Charlie leaned back in her rolling chair, steepling her fingers in a distinctively Mr. Burns posture, and studied him. “So I’m sure you were expecting this, but do we have plans for the wedding yet?” she asked as if they were discussing a raid in Moondor. 

Noticing the use of ‘we’, Dean counted his lucky stars that he didn’t need to enact any of the lame attempts he’d planned in order to ask Charlie for her help.

“Well, that was actually something I was going to ask you about,” Dean said, turning in his own chair and purposefully mirroring Charlie’s position. “Cas and I were talking about it and at first we were thinking courthouse ceremony…”

Charlie’s loud groan interrupted him. “Noooo, those are so booooring,” she whined, abandoning her evil Bond villain persona for flopping her limbs onto the arms of the chair, her head bent backwards. She reminded him of Claire when Cas told her that her toys couldn’t come with them to the amusement park because they might get lost.

Dean rolled his eyes at her dramatics; honestly sometimes Charlie was just as bad as some of the kids that were watched by the nannies. That would explain why she was so good with the munchkins that occasionally came to the agency building; she was just a big toddler herself.

“If you would wait one damn second before starting your pout-fest,” Dean continued once his friend had stopped whining. “We decided to have a small ceremony at the house; just friends and family---”

There was a blur of movement and a wild clacking of computer keys as Charlie sat up and began typing rapidly on her computer. Judging by the red and white color scheme, Dean had strong suspicions that she was on Pinterest. “Say no more, handmaiden,” she interrupted gleefully, tapping and clicking away. “I already have like, ten ideas on what we can do for this shindig.” She paused, looking at something on her screen before squealing. “Oooh, I love that; adding that to the list.”

Dean scooted his desk chair over to peer over her shoulder but she immediately minimized her screen, chiding him. “Ah, ah, ah,” she clucked, pointing over towards his desk imperiously. “You research on your own computer. How can I blow you and Cas away with my amazing wedding plans if you’re creeping on me the whole time?”

Shaking his head, Dean complied and went back to his own desk though he started clicking through his email since he was at work after all. “Whatever you say, your Majesty,” he replied in an over the top formal voice. “But just a warning, Cas is asking if Meg wants to help too so even if you don’t want to share with me and Cas, you know the people who are actually getting married, you might have to play nice with her.”

“Phfft, no problem,” Charlie scoffed, waving her hand at him dismissively. “I’ve met Meg, she’s totally going to join forces with me on this one.” She swung her chair back around so she was facing her monitor and fluttered a hand at him impatiently. “You just get back to work and let your Queen work her magic.”

He considered reminding her that she should probably do some work to since, well, they were at work but knew that would be pointless. This was a woman who played World of Warcraft on a daily basis while her bosses were only five offices away and clients came in and out all the time. How she managed to get her work done, Dean had no idea but he had to admit, she never missed a deadline so that was what mattered he supposed.

Taking his friend’s advice, Dean turned to his computer to start his day; he didn’t fight the grin that creeped across his face as his ring glinted in the light. He was happily engaged to the man he loved, they were going to have a nice ceremony at home and his best friend was willing to help him and Cas plan the wedding. 

Everything was perfect.

 

It wasn’t until a few days later that Dean realized that things were not exactly perfect.

Ever since it had started getting darker out early, he and Cas had started going to bed a bit earlier. Instead of going down to watch TV for a while (or just canoodle a bit on the couch) after they’d put Claire to bed, which was always a production for a small child, they went to their room for the rest of the night. Cas usually got his laptop out and got a small amount of work done while Dean either surfed the internet on his phone or read. They had been about twenty minutes into this newly established routine when Dean’s phone began to ring.

“Hey, Sammy,” he said cheerily as he answered, out of the corner of his eye he saw Cas look at him and smile before working on his computer. “How’s Eileen?”

Dean could clearly visualize his brother rolling his eyes in annoyance. “Eileen is great as usual; I’m fine too, thanks for asking,” Sam replied, nonplussed.

“Gotta have my priorities in check, Sammy,” Dean chuckled, settling back against the headboard. His talks with Sam tended to be pretty lengthy but he figured there wasn’t anything weird about that considering his brother was on the other side of the country. “Need to make sure my favorite Californian is doing alright.”

“Yeah, well your second favorite person from California wanted to check if we’re still on for me to visit next week for Thanksgiving.”

The relaxed state that settled over Dean after settling in bed completely evaporated. He’d forgotten that they’d agreed for Sam to come visit this year now that he had the money for a plane ticket; college loans had meant he hadn’t actually seen his brother in the flesh in about two years.

“Uh... of course,” Dean replied, forcing as much nonchalance as he could muster into his voice. “You’re still flying in on Wednesday, right?”

They settled into a one sidedly uncomfortable conversation about Sam’s travel plans for Thanksgiving. Luckily for Dean, once Sammy got started on airlines and travelling, nothing could distract him from his comparisons of different flights and airports. This meant that he was able to ignore the nagging voice in the back of his head that was telling him to just come clean before it was too late but he’d been dealing with that voice for a while now and it was easy to push it away.

He did wrap up the call faster than he normally would have, not wanting to risk saying anything that would make Sam suspect he was hiding something.

“Well, I’m going to get going, Sammy,” he said, feigning a touch more tiredness than he actually felt. “I think you keep forgetting there’s a time difference.”

Sam laughed. “Yeah, yeah blame it on me,” he said, his voice teasing, “I think you’re just getting old, Dean. I mean it’s only nine and you want to go to bed? What happened to the guy who’d stay up until midnight binging TV shows?”

_He met a fantastic man with a little girl and they settled into a storybook life_ , Dean thought to himself guiltily but out loud he said, “Oh, fuck off. I’m allowed to go to bed early every once in awhile.”

“I think you’re showing your age,” Sam teased. “But I guess I’ll let you go so you can go to sleep. I’ll see you next week, Dean.” 

Dean felt a wave of relief wash over him at the shorter than normal conversation, feeling that was quickly followed by a hearty twinge of guilt. He said his goodbye and hung up the phone.

“That was quick,” Cas mused absently, not looking up from his computer. “Usually you two are on the phone for at least an hour.”

In the middle of placing his phone on his bedside table, Dean froze.

There were a few beats of awkward silence, or at least they felt extremely stilted to Dean, before Cas looked up from his computer. “Dean, is something the matter?” he asked, his head doing that tilt thing that Dean would have normally found amusing but not at the moment.

Dean meant to say that everything was fine, to come up with some fib about Sam and his school work or maybe that his brother needed to go to work, he really did. It definitely would have been easier in his opinion if he had but months of keeping his secret had taken its toll. That stress, added in with looming specter of his doom and Cas’ concerned face, had the truth bumbling off his tongue before he could even think about it.

“Sammy doesn’t know about us and he’s coming to visit next week!” Dean blurted. As soon as he registered the utter stupidity of what he’d said, he clapped his hands to his mouth, eyes wide.

Cas’ mouth actually dropped open in shock, his eyes as large as dinner plates, before his brows furrowed in confusion. “How does your brother not know about us?” he asked slowly, probably questioning if he’d heard Dean right. “Do you mean he doesn’t know that we moved in together?”

“No, he doesn’t know I’m with you,” Dean admitted, shame sitting heavy in his gut. He actually felt sick to his stomach when Cas’ face fell little. He quickly put on a forced expression of understanding, as if it were perfectly reasonable that Dean could omit such important information.

“I suppose I can’t really complain about who you may not have told about us,” Cas said, softly. He placed a hand on top of Deans and rubbed it soothingly. “It’s not like I’ve told my family about you.”

Dean grasped Cas hands and looked at him, praying that he wouldn’t screw this up any further. “No, that is completely different, Cas,” he said, trying to order his thoughts into something coherent, “Your family is a bunch of grade A dicks who would just try and tear down everything you’ve accomplished and I am completely, one hundred percent fine with your decision not to tell them anything.”

“I dug this hole for myself because I’m a coward,” Dean admitted, grimacing at hearing the words out loud. “When we first started seeing each other, I didn’t tell Sam about us because I knew he would probably yell at me for dating my boss and then so much time passed and so much happened that it just got harder and harder to tell him. I mean what was I supposed to do just then say ‘Oh yeah, and by the way Sam, I’ve been seeing this guy for a little over a year and now we’re engaged? Oh and he used to be my boss and I have a daughter now.”

Panting slightly after his panicky speech, Dean stared anxiously at Cas as he waited for what his fiance would say. There were a few moments of silence where Cas’ face was completely blank; Dean was bracing himself for the anger or the dejection or, hell, the demand that Dean get the fuck out of his house; he was ready for every possibility.

Except he wasn’t expecting Cas to burst out into laughter.

Dean watched as Cas fell into hysterical peals of laughter, bent over as he clutched his stomach. What had he said that was so funny? He’d just admitted he pussed out about telling his brother about extremely important events in his life and therefore said brother knew nothing about the fact that he essentially had a family now and Cas thought it was hilarious?

After a few minutes, it seemed that Cas wasn’t able to stop laughing so Dean, thoroughly confused at this point and starting to worry about his fiance’s sanity, asked, “What in the hell is so funny?”

“I--I don’t really know,” Cas managed to get out between laughs, he wiped at his eyes as he tried to breath normally. “I guess it’s just that, well, this all seems like something out of a damn sitcom.” He looked at Dean, smiling, only to break into another bout of chuckling. “It’s just so ridiculous, that...for some reason I can’t find it in me to be upset.”

Cas slowly got himself under control while Dean watched him cautiously, wondering if he’d accidentally driven his fiance insane. Maybe the stress of being engaged to someone too chicken to tell his only brother about being in a relationship, let alone their upcoming nuptials, caused Cas to crack.

“So...you’re not mad?” Dean asked, practically cringing as he waited for an answer. Obviously he would blame him if he was mad, Dean had acted like a moron.

But Cas only shook his head and smiled. “No, I’m not mad, Dean,” he replied, reaching out to pull Dean next to him so they were snuggled up together. “A little disappointed? Yes but like I said, I haven’t been keeping my family appraised of our relationship so it’s not fair that I demand that you do so.” Cas paused and looked up at him, his eyes slightly concerned. “But I feel like you should try to get the nerve to tell Sam before he comes to visit; I’m afraid not telling will cause problems.”

Dean sighed heavily and relaxed into the warmth of Cas’ arms. This was a fact that he was well aware of. Sammy’s brain would explode into flames if Dean told him that he’d been in a relationship with someone for over a year; adding in a kid and an engagement to the mix was only going to fan the flames no matter what he did at this point. 

“I’ll call him tomorrow and come clean,” he finally said with resignation. He toyed idly with Cas’ hands, trying to fool himself into thinking he wasn’t scared of his looming phone call. “That’ll give him some time to cool off before he visits.”

Cas kissed him on the head. “That sounds like a good idea,” he replied. They’d shifted down so they were laid out flat, Cas’ arms securely around him. “Do you want me there when you call him? You know, for moral support.”

“Nah,” Dean chuckled, an image of Cas holding his hand while he talked to Sam flashing through his brain. He extracted himself from Cas’ grip long enough to turn off the lights while Cas put his laptop away. Once they were settled again his joked. “I think I can handle being yelled at by my little brother over the phone. It’ll be fine.”

And it probably would have been fine...if Dean had actually followed through.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, I am so sorry this took so long. Not only did I fall down the dean/cas/jimmy fic writing rabbit hole (as some of you've seen), I had a heck of a time trying to decide what to put in this one since if I included the next bit, the chapter would have been awkardly long but the next part has to be Dean pov. I finally settled on doing a split pov chapter next chapter so I could get this out to all of you. Thank you, thank you for being so patient; you guys are the best. :)


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a POV change this chapter from Dean to Cas; by an unplanned coincidence, you'll be able to tell where it is by the italics.

As it had before, the trouble started with a phone call.

Dean had been home for about an hour and was in the middle of picking up the post preschool playtime mess in the living room while Cas fixed dinner when his phone rang. Juggling an armful of mega blocks, he managed to extract his phone from the pocket of his work slacks and answered without checking the caller ID.

“Hello?” he said, walking over towards the toy bin while concentrating on not losing any of the blocks that were precariously perched in his arms.

“When the hell did you move, Dean?!”

Vaguely aware of the hollow thud of blocks hitting the carpet, Dean felt his stomach fall with them. His hand gripped the phone and he stared blankly into space at the sound of that oh so angry and oh so familiar voice.

“S-Sammy?” Dean sputtered, whirling around in circles as if he expected to see his brother looming behind him somewhere. “Wha-what are you talking about?”

He tried desperately to adopt a calm demeanor but, if Sam knew that he didn’t live in his old apartment…

Oh shit.

“What I mean is,” Sam said angrily and Dean could picture the expression of narrow eyed irritation on his little brother’s face. “I’m standing outside your building, or at least I thought it was, but when I went to your apartment, some old lady answered the door.”

Oh double shit.

“And when I asked, ‘where’s Dean?’, the lady told me that she’d heard that the ‘nice young man’ that had lived here had moved a long time ago to live with his boyfriend,” Sam continued when Dean found that he could do nothing but gape, his mouth moving silently like a fish. “Seriously, I try to come and surprise you and you can’t find the time to tell me you moved in with your boyfriend?! When did you even get a boyfriend?!”

Dean ran a hand through his hair and paced around the living room, trying to see if there was any way to salvage the absolute shit show this was starting to become. Unfortunately, there only seemed to be one. “Well--uh--see the---the thing is,” he began, knowing that he was babbling like a teenager who’d been caught sneaking in late by his parents. He took a deep breath and accepted his fate. “I have some things I’ve been meaning to tell you, Sam but at this point I won’t do it over the phone; just give me a minute to grab my keys and I’ll come and get you.”

Sam agreed and then hung up the phone; if it had been an old school phone instead of a cell, Dean figures he would have been treated to an irate slamming noise but as it was, there was just sudden silence. He looked down at the flashing screen that showed his brother’s goofy grinning face and sighed.

He was so fucked.

 

After explaining to Cas what had happened, and getting a heaping dose of ‘I told you so’ though at least he was somewhat gentle about it, Dean found himself driving into the city to his old apartment building; his palms were sweaty on the wheel as he thought about what was about to happen. The building came into view and sure enough, there was a large man sitting on one of the benches outside with a duffel bag sitting next to him. 

Commending his soul to God or whatever people do right before they might die, Dean pulled up to the curb and watched as Sam got up and stalked towards the car. His face looked absolutely thunderous.

The door to the Impala was pulled open and Sam threw himself inside, putting his duffel on his lap; the atmosphere in the car instantly took on a strained air. Dean threw the car into drive, the only thing he could think to do at the moment, and maneuvered the Impala into traffic. Neither of them spoke for several minutes.

“Well?” Sam said, finally breaking the silence. Dean could feel him glaring at the side of his face. “I’m waiting for my explanation, you know, the one about you dating someone long enough that you moved in with him and didn’t feel the need to tell me.”

“It’s not like that,” Dean protested, looking over at Sam while they were at a traffic light. “I wanted to tell you, I really really did but it just got harder and harder the longer I didn’t until I knew that if I did tell you, this would happen.” He waved a hand vaguely in his brother’s direction to indicate the disappointed anger etched in his features.

Sam snorted. “Well then why didn’t you tell me when you first started dating the guy?” he asked as they started moving again. “That seems like that would have been the best time to do that.”

Dean grimaced. Yeah there really was no way of getting around this part. “Well, you see, when Cas and I started dating, he was--well--,” he replied nervously, knowing that he was about to get into even more trouble. “Cas was my boss, okay?”

“Your boss, Dean?” Sam asked, exasperated. Dean rolled his eyes; he’d known this lecture was coming. “Seriously? That is a horrible idea and nine times out of ten it ends badly. What are you going to do if something happens and you break up?”

Huffing a laugh, Dean turned to smirk at his brother. He held up his hand, flashing the ring; there was probably a better way to do this but quite frankly he liked taking the wind out of Sammy’s sails. “Well, you don’t have to worry about that,” he said with no small amount of smugness at his brother’s shocked face. “Cas decided to make an honest man out of me.”

This little revelation actually caused Sam to gape, completely stunned.  
Right before he socked Dean in the arm, hard.

“You absolute shit!” Sam growled, crossing his arms and seething, “My own brother gets fucking engaged and doesn’t think that’s enough reason for pick up the damn phone.” He shot Dean a look that made him cringe with its intensity. “It’s not like we don’t talk on the phone at least once a week, Dean.”

Any amount of self satisfaction Dean had felt at rendering his brother speechless was drowned in a massive wave of guilt. They drove in strained for a few minutes, Sam staring out the window pointedly while Dean tried to think of what to say.

He’d really screwed up this time.

“Listen, I’m sorry,” Dean finally said as they entered his and Cas’ neighborhood. “It’s bad enough that I let not telling you about Cas get so out of hand but I never should have told you about being engaged like that. It was a complete douchebag move.”

Sam snorted ruefully and turned his head to give Dean a look that clearly said something along the lines of ‘no shit, Sherlock’. “You think?” he said sarcastically.

Dean winced but knew that he’d earned that so he took a breath and continued, “It’s just, well, when we first started going out I wasn’t even sure if we would work out; Cas was my boss after all so I figured at some point, he’d break things off or something.” He paused and smiled as his mind replayed the memories from those early days. “But then everything was just so damn perfect and then all of the sudden I had a serious partner and a kid in my life and I guess, it just got harder and harder to pick up the phone.”

“Wait, did you just say you have a kid now?” Sam interrupted, suddenly turning towards him. Dean could feel his brother scrutinizing him for any hint of a lie or bullshitery. “Seriously, who are you?”

Hearing a slight softening in Sam’s voice and hoping that it meant he was calming down, Dean pressed his advantage as they pulled into the driveway and he shut the car off. “Yeah, I mean obviously Claire is Cas’ kid but I’m sort of a dad-in-training now,” Dean replied, feeling that inescapable grin spreading across his face; he’d noticed that he couldn’t talk about Claire without this happening. Sam stared at him, his brow still slightly pinched with anger but Dean could see that this was starting to fade. “And I guess that makes you an almost uncle, Sammy.”

“I’m an uncle?” Sam breathed in shock, his eyes widening slightly as he most likely realized how much his knowledge of the his universe had just changed. He shot Dean another glare but this one was much less venomous than the ones he’d been giving him before and pointed a finger at him seriously. “I’m still pissed at you for keeping all this from me,” he warned sternly before he brightened again, “But, I’m happy for you Dean. It’s obvious that you’re happy and I know you’ve always wanted the family life.”

Dean reached an arm out and snagged Sam to drag him into a half hug, ignoring Sam’s halfhearted protests when he ruffled his hair, before finally releasing him. “Thanks, Sammy,” he replied, a good portion of the immense wave of relief he was experiencing leaked into his voice. They sat there for a minute, enjoying the first non angry silence since Dean had picked him up before Dean sighed and lightly slapped the steering wheel. “Well, we better get inside; Claire is probably tearing up the walls waiting to see you.”

“Yeah, I guess it’s time to meet the family,” Sam joked as they got out of the car and walked up to the house. “I hope they like me.”

 

_Oh god, what if he doesn’t approve of me?_ , Castiel thought to himself for what had to be the millionth time since Dean had left.

He’d known that meeting Dean’s brother was going to be nerve wracking for him but had been confident that he would be mentally prepared when the time came. Unfortunately he hadn’t been expecting to meet Sam this soon; Castiel had been planning on having a few more days to get ready. 

The house wasn’t even cleaned.

So, after Dean had announced that he needed to go and retrieve Sam from his old apartment building, Castiel had taken what parts of dinner that were finished off the stove and turned the rest on low. That way he could scurry around the living room tidying any surface that he could find that was messy which sadly was almost every surface. Claire, who had been playing with some toys in one corner of the living room, look up and eyed him with curiosity.

“Daddy? Where’d Dean go?” she asked, looking around as if expecting the man in question to pop out from behind the couch. “He said we was going to play after he cleaneded.”

Castiel paused in the middle of making sure the knick knacks on the TV stand were clean and orderly. “Dean had to go and pick up his brother,” he answered. His own response needlessly reminded him that he had a house guest coming and he began his nervous cleaning again. “Remember, sweetie? We told you that Dean’s brother Sam was coming to visit for Thanksgiving?”

Claire’s face scrunched up in her attempt to remember back almost a whole week to when they’d told her about Sam’s visit. She seemed to rack her brain for several minutes before lighting up with a smile. “Yeah, I remembers!” she declared, clapping her hands. Claire dropped the toys in her hand and darted across the living room and down the hall, headed to the windows near the front door. Her excited voice echoed down the hallway. “I will tell you when they get here, daddy!”

Shaking his head and chuckling at her excitement, Castiel continued his crusade to clean the house until he was forced to go back and finish dinner. He was in the middle of getting the food around to put on the table, to which he’d added an additional place setting, when he heard the distinct rumble of the Impala followed by an ecstatic shriek. 

“Daddy, daddy, daddy!” Claire cried breathlessly as she scurried into the kitchen, her eyes shining with excitement. She pointed a tiny hand towards the front door and beamed. “Dean’s back!” She started tugging on his pant leg, trying to drag him out of the room. “We has to go to the door and see them.”

He hushed her gently and removed his pant leg from her grip. “Calm down, sweetheart,” Castiel said softly, even though his own heartbeat had tripled in the past few seconds at the imminent arrival of his soon to be brother in law. “Why don’t we wait here and give them some time to get through the door before we go and meet them, okay? Besides, we need to get you washed up for supper anyway.”

Ignoring the noticeable pout on her face at being told no, Castiel plucked Claire off the ground and took her over to the sink. Normally he would have gotten out the step stool for her to stand on so she could wash her hands herself, under his supervision of course, but this time he helped her if only to distract himself from his own nerves. This plan actually worked pretty well since he only had a few moments to register voices headed in the direction of the kitchen before he heard two sets of footsteps enter the room.

“I’m back,” Dean declared as they entered the room. Castiel turned around and got his first look at Sam Winchester.

From all the stories that Dean had told him, Castiel had known that Sam was tall but all of his fiance’s rueful tales of how his little brother wasn’t quite so little anymore didn’t really prepare him for the man standing in front of him. Sam was easily several inches taller than Dean, who was a little taller than Castiel and it wasn’t as if either of them were small men. He did see what Dean meant about planning a sneak attack with hair clippers to deal with ‘the hippie mane.’

The adults stood and stared at each other awkwardly for a while, none of them exactly sure what to do in a situation like this, but luckily for them, they had an inquisitive child on hand to break the silence.

“Dean! Dean!” Claire exclaimed, wriggling for Castiel to put her down. As soon as he obliged and her feet hit the ground, she darted off to hug Dean around the leg. Dean smiled and bent down to pick her up; it wasn’t until he’d settled her on his hip that Claire noticed the other man in the kitchen. “Who’s this?” she asked excitedly before turning to gape as Sam, “Are you a giant like in my book?”

Dean snorted, obviously amused by her question. Sam sent a small glare at his brother but smiled politely at Claire. “No, I’m just really tall,” he answered, crouching down slightly and offering her his hand for a handshake. “I’m Sam, Dean’s little brother.”

“No you’re not!” Claire shouted with a giggle much to Castiel’s dismay. They’d worked on manners but it looked like they needed to have another lesson. He was about to scold her for being rude when she continued, “You’re biggerer than Dean, you can’t be a little brother cause they’re little.”

This time it was Sam’s turn to laugh while Dean scowled at this reminder of the height differences.

Deciding he needed to step in before Dean went on another grumpy rant about Sam stealing all the height in the family, though it wasn’t as if Dean really had much to complain about in that department, Castiel dried his hands on a towel and walked over to join the trio. “Claire, that was rude,” he chided her lightly, “Remember what Ms. Donna says about manners.”

“Manners is important,” she said glumly. Claire huffed and looked at Sam before declaring solemnly, “I’m sorry.”

Sam laughed again and stood up to his full height. “Oh, that’s okay, Claire,” he reassured her with a smile. “I get a lot of questions about being tall.” 

Claire opened her mouth, more than likely to give some sort of retort to her father, but Castiel wasn’t having that. He nodded towards the the table. “Claire, that will be enough of that,” he chided softly, reaching to take her out of Dean’s arms. “It’s time for supper anyway. I set another an extra place if you’d like to eat with us, Sam.”

Before Sam could respond, Dean clapped him heartily on the shoulder; he was grinning brightly at his brother. “Oh, Sammy here’s always been a big eater,” he said, pulling Sam over towards the table. “He’ll definitely eat.”

Castiel shook his head at his fiance and was going to reprimand him for being pushy but stopped when he was the good natured resignation on Sam’s; Dean constantly tried to feed people and it looked like he was looking at the first person to have had to live with that little trait. Sam allowed himself to be led to the table and Castiel watched with amusement as Dean began filling both Sam and Claire’s plates before heading over to join them.

Despite the reprieve from the stilted first meeting thanks to Claire’s innocently amusing observations, dinner was a strained affair.

It was plain to see that no one at the table, Claire being the exception of course, knew exactly what to talk about; Castiel didn’t know much about Sam’s life besides the what Dean had told him about and Sam obviously knew nothing about him and Claire. Dean tried his best to carry the conversation and keep it in neutral territory while filling in some blanks but Castiel could tell Sam was itching to start asking the hard questions.

“Daddy? Can I watch cartoons now?” Claire suddenly piped up. Castiel looked up from his plate to see that his little girl had indeed already eaten most of her supper and that, by some miracle, it looks like most of it actually ended up in her mouth instead of on her clothes. 

He nodded and stood up. “Yes, you can but let’s get you cleaned up first,” he said deciding to take the opportunity to escape from the tense air of the table. 

Claire cheered at this and scrambled down off her chair and scurried towards the sink so that Castiel could wipe her face and hands with a washcloth; he took her into the living room and set her up in front of the TV with her favorite show before turning back to the kitchen. A wave of anxiety washed over him and he was highly tempted to sit down and watch cartoons with Claire instead of going back into that room. Knowing that it had to be done and after taking a deep breath, Castiel walked back into the kitchen.

Sam and Dean were just as he’d left them except the light tension that had tinged the air had gotten thicker; Sam was looking expectantly at his brother while Dean was practically squirming in his seat. After a few minutes of silence, Castiel decided that he’d have to be the one to get the ball rolling; the sooner they had this conversation, the sooner it would be over.

“Sam, I wanted to thank you for taking the news about Dean and I so well,” he said, hoping that starting out with a compliment would work out in his favor. Sam stopped staring at Dean and looked at him; Castiel gulped when he saw that the light in those eyes was stern.

“I wouldn’t say that I took it well,” Sam said grimly, sparing at pointed glance at Dean who slumped ever so slightly in his seat, his cheeks flushed with embarrassment. “And I’m not going to lie, if I had known about this when if first started, I definitely would have told Dean not to pursue it; I mean, you were his boss and that meant you had power over him. You could have just been one of those creepy perverts who took advantage of the help, using him because he was convenient.”

Dean sat up straight, face reddened slightly with anger and his mouth opened to more than likely to protest Sam’s harsh viewpoint; Castiel only felt a strange sense of shame at the reminder that there had been a significant power imbalance at the beginning of his and Dean’s relationship. He’d expressed these feelings to Dean in the past but Dean was quick to reassure him that there wasn’t any imbalance, that he’d wanted Castiel from day one and not to worry about what anyone else thought about it.

It stung a bit to have one of his own fears brought up by Dean’s brother.

“But,” Sam said with a sigh before Dean could voice whatever angry retort that Castiel knew he was ready to let fly. “It’s pretty obvious that Dean is happy and that you were a big part of that so, despite that fact that my brother is an ass who keeps important information to himself, I’m okay with how all this went down.”

The irate look on Dean’s face faded into one of tentative hopefulness. “You mean that, Sammy?” he asked. Castiel felt Dean rest a hand over his as they waited for a response and the touch calmed his nerves.

Sam nodded and smiled. “Yeah, I’m not mad anymore,” he replied, the anger and disappointment that had been emanating from him since he’d first entered the house dissipated and Castiel felt himself relax too; in fact, the whole kitchen seemed to brighten as the tension ebbed. Sam tilted his head towards the living room. “How could I be mad when I’m an ‘almost uncle’ now?”

Dean rolled his eyes, probably due to the finger quotes that Castiel assumed were meant to mock something he’d said earlier, while Castiel bit back a laugh. 

“I suspect Claire is going to be very excited to hear about her new uncle,” Castiel said, smiling at Sam and his willingness to accept him and Claire into the family, no questions asked. He was coming to learn that the Winchesters were nothing like his own family, who carefully examined the background of those they associated with to make sure they were the ‘right sort’ of people for them to be connected with. Sam hadn’t even known that he and Claire existed a few hours ago and he was already willing to think of them as family. The mere idea had a soft warmth growing in his chest.

“Speaking of which,” Dean said, suddenly looking mischievous. He gave Sam an impish smile before calling out, “Claire, come here for a second.”

The sound of pattering feet echoed down the hallway right before a small blur ran into the kitchen. Claire beamed and ran over to stand between Dean and Castiel. Dean reached down and picked her up to sit her on his lap. “I have a very important mission for you,” he said, trying to put as much gravity in his voice as possible but Castiel could see he was also trying very hard not to laugh. Dean nodded over at a confused looking Sam and smiled evilly. “You see, Uncle Sammy here has been at boring old school for a very long time and I just realized it’s been a very long time since he’s had a good tea party.”

Castiel had to admit, the look of sheer terror on Sam’s face really was quite hilarious.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there we go, Sam got to yell at Dean (something that Dean really did deserve) and now everything is okay. :)
> 
> I just realized today that I've got about three pages of outline for this story and, with this chapter, I'm only a third of the way through. Who knew this was going to be a long-ish sequel? (Apparently not me, haha)


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